Rally Russia, fourth round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, was coloured by the uncontested domination of Juho Hanninen. The Finn, who was at the wheel of a Kronos Racing-prepared Peugeot 207 S2000, led the rally from beginning to end.

Seven out of twelve stages were Hanninen's, and his overall advantage in Russia stands at over two minutes on his closest rival. A great performance for the Finn's first participation within an IRC event, a participation which perfectly resulted with a clear victory... after only 60 kilometres of first testing with the car beforehand.

Novikov retires on the final stage

At barely 18 years old, young Evgeny Novikov bettered most Intercontinental Rally Challenge drivers over the duration of this rally, a home race in his case. The overall second position he was maintaining seemed promised as he drove at a high pace behind the wheel of his Group N Subaru, even signing a stage win on SS6.

Unfortunately, the Russian retired on the very last stage, leaving the Abarth team drivers to fill the void and preventing him from basking in podium glory.

Two Abarth drivers on the podium

The winner of last year's edition, Anton Alen, was also deserving of a podium position; his ranking of third became a second place following Novikov's heartbreaking retirement.

The third step of the podium went to Abarth teammate Giandomenico Basso. The team needed such a good result, as it wished to demonstrate that its Italian Grande Puntos could rival with the French Peugeots over a gravel rally.

Vouilloz co-leads the championship

The Peugeot Belgium-Luxemburg drivers set their 207 Super 2000s in fourth and fifth positions, with recent Rally Ypres winner Freddy Loix ahead of teammate Nicolas Vouilloz. A quite satisfactory result for team principal Marc Van Dalen, who along with Juho Hanninen's car, sees three of his Kronos Racing machines within the top five.

Satisfaction also for Nicolas Vouilloz: despite time-costly punctures, the Frenchman now co-leads the IRC championship next to Italian driver Luca Rossetti, who did not participate in this event. Each title contender currently holds 26 points.

Five Peugeot 207s in the top 8

The Peugeot cars again displayed their competitiveness and robustness: Hanninen victorious, Loix and Vouilloz in fourth and fifth positions, followed by Jan Kopecky in sixth and Brice Tirabassi in seventh.

In the eighth spot, we find Simon Jean-Joseph's Citroen C2-R2 Max, the highest-ranking two-wheel-drive car. But the man from Martinique is not officially participating within the IRC, so the 2WD Cup victory goes to Russian driver Vadim Mikhailov, who was racing with a Peugeot 206 XS.

The next Intercontinental Rally Challenge event will take place in Portugal, at the very beginning of August.

Rally Russia results: *

1. Juho HANNINEN-Mikko MARKKULA (Peugeot 207 S2000) 2:14:27,0

2. Anton ALEN-Timo ALANNE (Abarth Grande Punto S2000) +2:11,2

3. Giandomenico BASSO-Mitia DOTTA (Abarth Grande Punto S2000) +2:44,2

4. Freddy LOIX-Robin BUYSMANS (Peugeot 207 S2000) +3:29,4

5. Nicolas VOUILLOZ-Nicolas KLINGER (Peugeot 207 S2000) +5:30,8

6. Jan KOPECKY-Petr STARY (Peugeot 207 S2000) +6:54,4

7. Brice TIRABASSI-Fabrice GORDON (Peugeot 207 S2000) +9:03,2

8. Simon JEAN-JOSEPH-Jack BOYERE (Citroën C2 R2 Max) +10:42,3

(...)

IRC Drivers:

1. Rossetti (Ita) 26

2. Vouilloz (Fra) 26

3. Loix (Bel) 16

4. Kopecky (Cz) 15

5. Hanninen (Fin) 14

6. Basso (Ita) 14

7. Alen (Fin) 14

8. Casier (Bel) 5

9. Travaglia (Ita) 5

10. Snijers (Bel) 4

(...)

IRC Teams:

1. Peugeot 69

2. Abarth 33

3. Mitsubishi 9

4. Volkswagen 5.

*Times courtesy of Peugeot