Rally Review: IRC Cyprus and 2012 season

First of all, we apologise for the lack of content in the past few weeks. But since we are not full-time journalists we do tend to have issues with studying and computers letting you down. Nevertheless we have another Rally Review.

Rally Review: IRC Cyprus and 2012 season

by Martijn Kösters

The Intercontinental Rally Challenge finished off the 2012 season in Cyprus, same like last year. The tricky combination of tarmac and gravel would put a strain on both cars and drivers, as road conditions change frequently. Not only was the 2012 season put to bed, so was the series as the IRC ceases to exist and Eurosport events will organize the European Rally Championship from January next year.

With the championship still open, a good fight for the title would be welcome. Yet the entry sheets revealed that number two in the championship, Jan Kopecký, would not be present in Cyprus. Same for number 3 Juho Hänninen. However defending Champion Andreas Mikkelsen did enter the event, as did Sepp Wiegand and former Dakar-winner Nasser Al-Attiyah.

Rally Cyprus started on Friday with a short special, which provided plenty of action for the great number of spectators, but no surprises. Real Rally action was provided throughout Saturday, as Andreas Mikkelsen was mainly to fight his car. On the first stage of the day he had to change a wheel, throwing him almost two minutes behind leader Al-Attiyah. Al-Attiyah showed speed, matching Mikkelsen's times closely throughout the whole day. As Sepp Wiegand made a mistake and Jarkko Nikara had a puncture, Mikkelsen was back in P2 after the first loop, still 1m33 behind Al-Attiyah who suffered a broken drive shaft and alternator issues. Lucky for him this happened on the last stage before service.

Saturday afternoon saw consolidation in the top-4, with Mikkelsen closing slowly on Al-Attiyah. And with Wiegand and Nikara unable to match their pace. Apart from Saturday's last stage in which Wiegand retired with broken steering, Nikara found himself swapping wheels on stage and Mikkelsen nursed a punctured tyre to the finish line. Toshihiro Arai profited by taking 3^rd place, all be it seven minutes behind the leader.

Nasser Al-Attiyah started Sunday with a lead of 1 minute and thirty seconds, a comfortable lead with 6 stages to go. However Mikkelsen closed the gap to 57.8 seconds after stage 9, and 49 seconds after the first loop. Al-Attiyah must have felt more than just the Cypriotic heat. However the IRC was robbed of a great finale when Mikkelsen suffered another puncture on Stage 11. This not being Formula One, Mikkelsen took 2 minutes to change his flat tyre. After this Mikkelsen no longer pushed, and even let his Co-driver Ola Floene experience the power of the Skoda Fabia on their last stage as a team.

Al-Attiyah won the rally, which also counted for the Middle-Eastern Rally Championship. Mikkelsen as said 2^nd but with a championship and Toshihiro Arai finished the year on a high with a podium.


The end of the season kind of reflected the 2012 season as a whole, often dominated by a lack of entries Mikkelsen tried to put up a good show or at least score a good result, accompanied by another driver who could match him. For spectators something simple as a puncture for one driver can take the excitement out of an event, as Al-Attiyah and Mikkelsen were in a league of their own. Unfortunately the 2012 IRC did not bring up any new great talents like Kris Meeke, Thierry Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen in previous years. Sepp Wiegand never really impressed despite having equal material to Mikkelsen and Herman Gassner Jr. left the IRC after the french round of the championship.

But to end on a positive note, there is a “new” championship coming up, with new events, new and more drivers. Mark the first weekend of 2013, as the Jannerrallye kicks of the ERC.