Hanninen wins

The SKODA Motorsport Fabia Super 2000 driver and defending champion headed a podium sweep for the marque after a close tussle with Andreas Mikkelsen on the start of the final day’s gravel racing.

A brave run through Saturday’s second stage gave Hanninen a slender advantage over the Norwegian that he maintained to the finish.

Another SKODA man, Jan Kopecky of the Czech Republic, was third.

A hat trick of stage wins on Friday afternoon had propelled Mikkelsen to within 1.3 seconds of Hanninen at the start of day three.

Mikkelsen went faster than Hanninen on Saturday’s opening run to snatch the lead by 2.7s, despite bashing his Fabia’s left-rear wheel on an earth bank in thick fog.

But in the fog of stage 14, Hanninen threw caution to the wind to regain the lead with a blistering drive.

Mikkelsen won the Grupo Marques superspecial to narrow the Finn’s margin to 10.9s with two stages remaining when a decision was made for both drivers to hold station to ensure a dominant finish for the Czech manufacturer, which now heads Peugeot in the makes’ standings by 48 points.

1. Juho Hanninen (FIN)/Mikko Markkula (FIN) SKODA Fabia S2000 1h07m45.8s

2. Andreas Mikkelsen (NOR)/Ola Fløene (NOR) SKODA Fabia S2000 +42.3s

3. Jan Kopecky (CZE)/Petr Stary (CZE) SKODA Fabia S2000 +1m46.0s

4. Bryan Bouffier (FRA)/Xavier Panseri (FRA) Peugeot 207 S2000 +3m36.2s

5. Patrik Sandell (SWE)/Staffan Parmander (SWE) SKODA Fabia S2000 +4m33.3s

6. Ricardo Moura (POR)/Sandro Eiro (POR) Ralliart Lancer Evolution IX +6m07.0s

7. Vitor Lopes (POR)/Hugo Magalhaes (POR) Subaru Impreza STI WRX +9m52.1s

8. Vitor Pascoal (POR)/Luis Ramalho (POR) Ralliart Lancer Evolution X +12m47.3s

9. Sergio Silva (POR)/Nelson Cordeiro (POR) Subaru Impreza STI WRX +14m00.3s

10. Fumio Nutahara (JPN)/Hakaru Ichino (JPN) Subaru Impreza R4 +18m10.8s