2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge

The 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge was the sixth season of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The season consisted of twelve rounds and started on 19 January with the Monte Carlo Rally. The season ended on 5 November, at the Cyprus Rally.

The series introduced a new points system for the 2011 season, applying the FIA points system – 25–18–15–12–10–8–6–4–2–1^[1] – which had been introduced to other championships within the last twelve months. Within the new system, the final two events in Scotland and Cyprus offered more points via a scoring coefficient.^[1] Scotland offered crews points on a 1.5 coefficient, meaning that the winner earned 37.5 points, second place 27 points, third place 22.5 points and so on. In Cyprus, double points were offered, meaning the winner received 50 points, second place 36, third place 30 and so forth. The rule was intended to increase the number of entries for the final two rounds, although Bouffier (who was still in mathematical contention for the title) did not participate in Cyprus.^[2]

Argentina was cancelled, meaning the calendar had a large proportion of tarmac events. Extra points for the final two gravel rallies meant that tarmac specialists would not necessarily dominate, however. The Proton Satria Neos were not as competitive as the Škoda Fabias or Peugeot 207s. The Monte Carlo Rally had several notable appearances, including François Delecour and 2003 World Rally Champion Petter Solberg. The final two rallies were won by Andreas Mikkelsen, who also took two other podiums and the most stage wins during the season en-route to the championship.^[3]

The calendar had consisted of twelve events run on two continents. The schedule will include two new countries, France (Tour de Corse, former WRC event) and Hungary (Asphalt/Gravel Mecsek Rallye), plus a return to Argentina for the new gravel-based Rally de los Alerces.^[4] The final calendar was released on 10 December 2010, with the Prime Yalta Rally in Ukraine added, and the Rally Islas Canarias listed without a confirmed date.^[5] Rally Islas Canarias was reinstated to the calendar on 19 January 2011 at the expense of Rally de los Alerces, which was cancelled.^[6] Rali Vinho da Madeira was later dropped in June 2011.^[7]

Round	Dates	Event title	Rally HQ	Surface
1	19–22 January	Monte Carlo Rally	Valence	Asphalt
2	14–16 April	Rally Islas Canarias	Las Palmas	Asphalt
3	12–14 May	Tour de Corse	Ajaccio	Asphalt
4	2–4 June	Prime Yalta Rally	Yalta	Asphalt
5	23–25 June	Ypres Rally	Ypres	Asphalt
6	14–16 July	Rallye Açores	Ponta Delgada	Gravel
7	26–28 August	Barum Czech Rally Zlín	Zlín	Asphalt
8	9–11 September	Mecsek Rallye	Pécs	Asphalt
9	22–24 September	Rallye Sanremo	Sanremo	Asphalt
10	7–9 October[8]	Rally Scotland	Perth	Gravel
11	3–5 November	Cyprus Rally	Limassol	Asphalt/Gravel

Peugeot UK had already confirmed their entry for the 2011 season with Guy Wilks^[9] who previously raced for Škoda UK instead of 2009 champion Kris Meeke who made the switch to World Rally Championship (WRC) driving for MINI.^[10] 2003 World Rally champion Petter Solberg made a one-off appearance at the Monte Carlo Rally for Peugeot. Škoda UK, had also announced their plan to compete in IRC in 2011.^[11] The team's single car was occupied by Andreas Mikkelsen, who competed in the Skoda Italia-run car, alongside the works cars of the top two drivers in 2010, Juho Hänninen and Jan Kopecký.^[12]

Entrant/Team	Manufacturer[13]	Car	Driver	Co-driver	Tyres	Rounds
Škoda Motorsport	Škoda	Škoda Fabia S2000	Juho Hänninen	Mikko Markkula	M	1–2, 4, 6–7, 10–11
			Jan Kopecký	Petr Starý		All
			Nicolas Vouilloz	Benjamin Veillas		1
			Freddy Loix	Frédéric Miclotte		1
BFO-Škoda Rally Team						2–3, 5, 7–11
Škoda UK			Andreas Mikkelsen	Ola Fløene	M	All
Škoda Auto Deutschland			Mark Wallenwein	Stefan Kopczyk	M	1, 7–8, 11
			Matthias Kahle	Peter Göbel		7–8, 10–11
TGS Worldwide OÜ			Toni Gardemeister	Tapio Suominen	H	2–5, 7–10
Škoda Sweden			Patrik Sandell	Staffan Parmander	M	3–4
					P	6–7, 10–11
ME3 Rally Team			Karl Kruuda	Martin Järveoja	M	4–5, 7–11
Autostal Duindistel			Bernd Casier	Francis Caesemaeker	M	5
Wevers Sport			Hans Weijs	Bjorn Degandt	BF	5
			Mark van Eldik	Robin Buysmans		5
			Edwin Schilt	Lisette Bakker		5
Simpsons Škoda			Jonathan Greer	Dai Roberts	P	5, 10
Škoda Ireland			Robert Barrable	Damien Connolly	P	5
					M	7, 10
Adell Mogul Racing Team			Roman Kresta	Petr Gross	M	7
Škoda Rally Team Hungaria			Norbert Herczig	Kálmán Benics	M	8
Red Bull Škoda			Hermann Gassner	Timo Gottschalk	M	8
René Georges Motorsport			Burcu Çetinkaya	Çiçek Güney	Y	10–11
Peugeot France	Peugeot	Peugeot 207 S2000	Petter Solberg	Chris Patterson	M	1
			Bryan Bouffier	Xavier Panseri	M	1–10
			Stéphane Sarrazin	Jacques-Julien Renucci	M	1
			Robert Bútor	Igor Bacigál	M	8
Enjolras Sport			François Delecour	Dominique Savignoni	M	1, 3
Peugeot UK			Guy Wilks	Phil Pugh	M	1–10
Astra Racing			Toni Gardemeister	Tomi Tuominen	M	1
Peugeot Sport Portugal			Bruno Magalhães	Paulo Grave	M	1–3, 5–6, 8–9
Friulmotor			Giandomenico Basso	Mitia Dotta	M	1
Peugeot Team Belux			Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Klinger	M	1
				Nicolas Gilsoul		2–5, 7–11
			Pieter Tsjoen	Lara Vanneste		5
Kimera Motorsport			Luca Betti	Alessandro Mattioda	M	1
				Maurizio Barone		5, 7
Munaretto Sport			Max Settembrini	Corrado Bonato	M	1–3
				David Boselli		9
			Marco Tempestini	Dorin Pulpea		1, 4, 8
			Pierre Campana	Sabrina De Castelli		3, 5, 9
			Doros Loucaides	Costas Laos		11
AMP Classic Team			Jonathan Pérez	Enrique Velasco	M	2
Yazeed Al Rajhi Team			Yazeed Al Rajhi	Mathieu Baumel	M	3
Peugeot Delimax Czech National Team			Pavel Valoušek	Zdeněk Hrůza	M	7
Peugeot Total Hungária Rallye Team			János Tóth	Róbert Tagai	M	8
National Proklama			Alessandro Perico	Fabrizio Carrara	P	9
Petter Solberg World Rally Team	M-Sport	Ford Fiesta S2000	Henning Solberg	Ilka Minor	M	1
Team Emap Yacco			Julien Maurin	Olivier Ural	M	1, 3, 5–6
AT Rally Team			Oleksiy Tamrazov	Ivan German	M	3–4, 7
Cersanit Rally Team			Michał Sołowow	Maciek Baran	P	5, 7
Keltech Motorsport			Craig Breen	Gareth Roberts	P	7, 10
Synergon Turán Motorsport			Frigyes Turán	Gábor Zsiros	M	8
Car Racing			Umberto Scandola	Guido D'Amore	M	9
M-Sport			Alastair Fisher	Daniel Barritt	P	10
Barwa World Rally Team			Nasser Al-Attiyah	Giovanni Bernacchini	P	11
Proton Motorsport	Proton	Proton Satria Neo S2000	Per-Gunnar Andersson	Emil Axelsson	M	1–2, 4–5, 7–8, 10
			Chris Atkinson	Stéphane Prévot	M	1, 9
			Giandomenico Basso	Mitia Dotta	M	2, 4–5, 7–9
			Oleksandr Saliuk	Evgen Chervonenko	M	4
			Alister McRae	Bill Hayes	M	10
Dytko Sport	Ralliart	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X	Andreas Aigner	Daniela Ertl	M	1
Amarante Rally Team			Vítor Pascoal	Luis Ramalho	M	6
Team Além Mar		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	Ricardo Moura	Sancho Eiró	M	6
David Bogie Rallying			David Bogie	Kevin Rae	P	10
Sonax Racing			Jarkko Nikara	Petri Nikara	Y	10
Nicos Thomas Racing			Nicos Thomas	Angelos Loizides	M	11
Heuvel Motorsport		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X R4	Jasper van den Heuvel	Martine Kolman	P	5
EuroOil Čepro Czech National Team		Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX R4	Václav Pech	Petr Uhel	M	7
Martevo Kft.			György Aschenbrenner	Zsuzsa Pikó	Y	8
Team Arai	Subaru	Subaru Impreza R4	Toshihiro Arai	Dale Moscatt	Y	3, 6, 8, 10–11
Advan Team Nutahara			Fumio Nutahara	Hakaru Ichino	Y	6–7, 10
Eurosol Racing Team Hungary	Volkswagen	Volkswagen Polo S2000	László Vizin	Gábor Zsiros	M	4, 7
National Proklama	Abarth	Abarth Grande Punto S2000	Luca Rossetti	Matteo Chiarcossi	M	5

Round	Rally name	Podium finishers
		Rank	Driver	Car	Time
1	/ Monte Carlo Rally (19–22 January) — Results and report	1	Bryan Bouffier	Peugeot 207 S2000	3:32:55.6
		2	Freddy Loix	Škoda Fabia S2000	3:33:28.1
		3	Guy Wilks	Peugeot 207 S2000	3:34:15.3
2	Rally Islas Canarias (14–16 April) — Results and report	1	Juho Hänninen	Škoda Fabia S2000	1:40:38.1
		2	Jan Kopecký	Škoda Fabia S2000	1:40:39.6
		3	Thierry Neuville	Peugeot 207 S2000	1:40:46.3
3	Tour de Corse (12–14 May) — Results and report	1	Thierry Neuville	Peugeot 207 S2000	3:20:51.0
		2	Jan Kopecký	Škoda Fabia S2000	3:21:06.5
		3	Freddy Loix	Škoda Fabia S2000	3:21:53.6
4	Prime Yalta Rally (2–4 June) — Results and report	1	Juho Hänninen	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:54:14.0
		2	Bryan Bouffier	Peugeot 207 S2000	2:54:25.7
		3	Jan Kopecký	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:54:52.7
5	Ypres Rally (23–25 June) — Results and report	1	Freddy Loix	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:40:03.9
		2	Hans Weijs	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:44:00.8
		3	Michał Sołowow	Ford Fiesta S2000	2:46:10.7
6	Rallye Açores (14–16 July) — Results and report	1	Juho Hänninen	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:19:03.8
		2	Andreas Mikkelsen	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:19:46.1
		3	Jan Kopecký	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:20:49.8
7	Barum Rally Zlín (26–28 August) — Results and report	1	Jan Kopecký	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:15:51.7
		2	Freddy Loix	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:15:52.9
		3	Juho Hänninen	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:16:29.1
8	Mecsek Rallye (9–11 September) — Results and report	1	Jan Kopecký	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:00:06.7
		2	Thierry Neuville	Peugeot 207 S2000	2:00:07.5
		3	Freddy Loix	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:01:06.7
9	Rallye Sanremo (22–24 September) — Results and report	1	Thierry Neuville	Peugeot 207 S2000	2:19:57.8
		2	Andreas Mikkelsen	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:19:59.3
		3	Bryan Bouffier	Peugeot 207 S2000	2:20:13.8
10	Rally Scotland (7–9 October) — Results and report	1	Andreas Mikkelsen	Škoda Fabia S2000	1:55:17.2
		2	Juho Hänninen	Škoda Fabia S2000	1:55:43.6
		3	Bryan Bouffier	Peugeot 207 S2000	1:56:52.5
11	Cyprus Rally (3–5 November) — Results and report	1	Andreas Mikkelsen	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:25:18.5
		2	Jan Kopecký	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:26:59.0
		3	Patrik Sandell	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:28:13.3

• Only the best seven scores from each driver count towards the championship.

Pos Driver MON CAN COR YAL YPR AZO ZLI MEC SAN SCO CYP  Total   Drop   Pts  1 Andreas Mikkelsen Ret 6 6 4 Ret 2 5 Ret 2 1 1 161.5 8 153.5 2 Jan Kopecký 8 2 2 3 DNS 3 1 1 4 5 2 183 31 152 3 Juho Hänninen 6 1 1 1 3 2 16 125 125 4 Freddy Loix 2 4 3 1 2 3 Ret 5 123 123 5 Thierry Neuville Ret 3 1 6 Ret 4 2 1 6 Ret 115 115 6 Bryan Bouffier 1 8 Ret 2 DSQ 4 Ret 4 3 3 110.5 110.5 7 Guy Wilks 3 5 Ret 5 5 Ret Ret Ret Ret Ret 47 47 8 Patrik Sandell 9 9 5 12 Ret 3 44 44 9 Toni Gardemeister 10 12 8 7 7 6 7 9 7 45 2 43 10 Karl Kruuda 8 5 10 11 Ret 13 4 39 39 11 Bruno Magalhães Ret 9 5 Ret Ret 9 5 26 26 12 Craig Breen 7 4 24 24 13 Hans Weijs 2 18 18 14 Matthias Kahle 19 19 10 6 17.5 17.5 15 Pierre Campana 14 4 8 16 16 16 Michał Sołowow 3 11 15 15 17 Toshi Arai 13 Ret 18 9 7 15 15 18 Stéphane Sarrazin 4 12 12 19 François Delecour 5 10 10 Hermann Gassner 5 10 10 21 Ricardo Moura 6 8 8 György Aschenbrenner 6 8 8 Alessandro Perico 6 8 8 24 Mark Wallenwein 21 18 14 8 8 8 25 Julien Maurin 12 7 11 Ret 7 7 26 Nicolas Vouilloz 7 6 6 Vítor Lopes 7 6 6 Umberto Scandola 7 6 6 29 Luca Rossetti 8 6 6 Alastair Fisher 8 6 6 31 Giandomenico Basso 9 11 Ret Ret 13 Ret 10 5 5 32 Vítor Pascoal 8 4 4 Roman Kresta 8 4 4 Róbert Bútor 8 4 4 35 Bernhard ten Brinke 9 4 4 36 Doros Loucaides 10 4 4 37 Per-Gunnar Andersson Ret 24 Ret 19 9 Ret Ret 2 2 38 Sérgio Silva 9 2 2 39 Robert Barrable 10 DSQ 16 2 2 40 Charalambos Timotheou 11 2 2 41 Jean-Mathieu Leandri 10 1 1 Beppo Harrach 10 1 1 43 Fumio Nutahara 11 Ret 15 1 1 44 János Puskádi 23 12 Ret 28 20 24 1 1 Pos Driver MON CAN COR YAL YPR AZO ZLI MEC SAN SCO CYP  Total   Drop   Pts

Key Colour Result Gold Winner Silver 2nd place Bronze 3rd place Green Points finish Blue Non-points finish Non-classified finish (NC) Purple Did not finish (Ret) Black Excluded (EX) Disqualified (DSQ) White Did not start (DNS) Cancelled (C) Blank Withdrew entry from the event (WD)

• Only the best seven scores from each manufacturer count towards the championship.

Pos Manufacturer MON CAN COR YAL YPR AZO ZLI MEC SAN SCO CYP  Total   Drop   Pts  1 Škoda 30 43 33 40 43 43 43 40 30 64.5 86 495.5 133 362.5 2 Peugeot 40 27 37 30 16 19 15 30 40 37.5 24 315.5 74 241.5 3 Subaru 14 4 14 1 0 16 2 10 6 15 42 124 7 117 4 M-Sport 10 3 10 4 23 0 20 0 10 30 0 110 3 107 5 Ralliart 6 0 0 10 8 20 5 18 6 1.5 36 110.5 6.5 104 6 Honda 0 8 4 16 0 0 0 3 0 3 12 46 46 7 Proton 0 16 0 0 1 0 16 0 8 0 0 41 41 8 Abarth 1 0 3 0 10 0 0 0 1 0 0 15 15 Pos Manufacturer MON CAN COR YAL YPR AZO ZLI MEC SAN SCO CYP  Total   Drop   Pts

• Only the best seven scores from each driver count towards the championship.

Pos Driver MON CAN COR YAL YPR AZO ZLI MEC SAN SCO CYP  Pts  1 Jean-Michel Raoux 7 Ret 1 2 3 7 14 Ret 1 120 2 Stefano Albertini 3 Ret 1 1 2 2 119 3 János Puskádi 9 3 Ret 6 3 4 71.5 4 Martin Kangur Ret 6 11 6 Ret Ret 1 53.5 5 Pierre-Antoine Guglielmi 1 3 40 6 Andreas Charalambous 3 30 7 John MacCrone 2 27 8 Kris Princen Ret 1 25 9 Pierre Campana 1 25 Joan Vinyes 1 25 Paulo Maciel 1 25 Davide Medici 1 25 13 Eric Mauffrey 4 Ret 5 Ret 22 14 Doros Constantinou 5 20 15 Vlad Cosma 2 18 18 16 Michaël Burri 2 18 Gorka Antxustegi 2 18 Guy Fiori 2 18 Tommy Doyle 2 18 Václav Dunovský 2 18 Menyhért Krózser 2 18 22 Ruary MacLeod 4 18 23 Harry Hunt 20 6 6 Ret Ret 9 Ret Ret 18 24 Renaud Poutout 3 15 Angel Marrero 3 15 Kevin Demaerschalk 3 15 Carlos Costa 3 15 Sasa Ollé 3 15 29 Tony Jardine Ret 5 15 30 Raul Quesada 4 12 Jean-Paul Villa 4 12 Archil Bidzinashvili 4 12 Kevin Abbring 4 12 Tiago Mota 4 12 Petr Zedník 4 12 Zsolt Szíjj 4 12 Roberto Vescovi 4 12 38 Ekaterina Stratieva 5 Ret 10 39 Adrien Tambay 5 10 Enrique Cruz 5 10 Pierre Quilici 5 10 Xavier Baugnet 5 10 Olavo Esteves 5 10 Szabolcs Várkonyi 5 10 Cedric Cherain 5 10 46 Andrea Crugnola 6 8 Claudie Tanghe 6 8 Joaquim Pacheco 6 8 Andrea Cortinovis 6 8 50 Petr Brynda 7 10 Ret Ret 7 51 Enrique García Ojeda 7 6 Giedrius Kriptavičius 7 6 Nicolas Damsin 7 6 João Faria 7 6 Zsolt Pénzes 7 6 Alex Vittalini 7 6 57 Renaud Bronkart 8 27 4 58 Dimitrios Amaxopoulos 8 4 Alessandro Barchiesi 8 4 Stéphane Rovina 8 4 Vadim Trutnyev 8 4 Davy Vanneste 8 4 Lubomír Minařík 8 4 Matteo Brunello 8 4 65 Lilian Vialle 9 2 Miguel Arias 9 2 Vincent Verschueren 9 2 Jarosław Kołtun 9 2 69 Christophe Fontaine 10 1 Rubén Gracia 10 1 Franck Amaudru 10 1 Milan Kneifel 10 1 Elwis Chentre 10 1 Pos Driver MON CAN COR YAL YPR AZO ZLI MEC SAN SCO CYP  Pts

• Only the best seven scores from each manufacturer count towards the championship.

Pos Manufacturer MON CAN COR YAL YPR AZO ZLI MEC SAN SCO CYP  Total   Drop   Pts  1 Honda 12 37 18 43 15 0 33 43 0 60 86 347 27 320 2 M-Sport 0 33 0 15 43 0 25 0 0 45 0 161 161 3 Peugeot 35 18 37 12 10 25 12 0 0 0 0 149 149 4 Abarth 33 0 25 0 0 0 0 0 27 0 0 85 85 5 Škoda 0 0 0 0 12 0 18 0 43 0 0 73 73 Pos Manufacturer MON CAN COR YAL YPR AZO ZLI MEC SAN SCO CYP  Total   Drop   Pts

• Only the best seven scores from each driver count towards the championship.

Pos Driver MON CAN COR YAL YPR AZO ZLI MEC SAN SCO CYP  Pts  1 Toshi Arai 2 Ret 7 1 1 111.5 2 Florian Gonon 1 1 Ret 1 75 3 Marco Caviglioli 15 10 2 4 Ret 37 4 Charalambos Timotheou 2 36 5 Fumio Nutahara 5 Ret 3 32.5 6 Savvas Savva 3 30 7 Volodymyr Pechenyk 1 10 27 8 Jason Pritchard 2 27 9 Jose Barrios 1 25 Jonas Langenakens 1 25 Ricardo Moura 1 25 Jaroslav Orsák 1 25 György Aschenbrenner 1 25 14 Vojtěch Štajf 2 7 24 15 Constantinos Tingirides 4 24 16 Eamonn Boland 6 Ret 3 23 17 Panayiotis Yiangou 5 20 18 Yuriy Shapovalov 2 18 Anthony Martin 2 18 Vítor Lopes 2 18 Daniel Běhálek 2 18 Beppo Harrach 2 18 23 Michalis Posedias 6 16 24 Giacomo Ogliari 3 15 Anton Kuzmenko 3 15 Jasper van den Heuvel 3 15 Vítor Pascoal 3 15 Martin Bujáček 3 15 Dávid Botka 3 15 30 Arman Smailov 5 15 31 Maurizio Verini 4 12 Yukhym Vazheyevskyy 4 12 Andy Lefevere 4 12 Sérgio Silva 4 12 Václav Arazim 4 12 László Ranga 4 12 Corrado Perino 4 12 38 Mihály Matics 8 6 12 39 Costas Zenonos 7 12 40 Claude Carret 5 10 Yevgen Konopellkin 5 10 Philip Barbier 5 10 Jaromír Tarabus 5 10 István Pethő 5 10 45 Alexander Lomadze 6 8 Kris Cools 6 8 José Paula 6 8 Milan Pantálek 6 8 49 Phivos Nicolaou 8 8 50 Herve Knapick 7 6 Neil McCance 7 6 52 László Vizin 9 9 6 53 Miguel Baudoin 8 4 Bruno Parmentier 8 4 András Hadik 8 4 56 Rémi Tosello 9 2 Michael Eckhaus 9 2 Richard Kirnig 9 2 59 Pierre Bos 10 1 Roy Clijnk 10 1 Petr Trnovec 10 1 Pos Driver MON CAN COR YAL YPR AZO ZLI MEC SAN SCO CYP  Pts

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