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San Remo, 24 September, 2011 – A breathtaking drama and unexpected changes until the last moment – the ninth event of this year's IRC was an attractive spectacle where winning or losing was once again a matter of just tenths of a second. After a thrilling finish, Andreas Mikkelsen lost to Neuville in a Peugeot by just 1.5 sec. Freddy Loix had bad luck – although he led the rally for a long time, he had a crash only two stages before the end and had to give up. Jan Kopecký of ŠKODA Motorsport (factory team) came fourth but remains in the lead of the championship.

Sunshine, almost no clouds and temperatures around 28 degrees Celsius – the weather in San Remo was great for the whole of the event. Consisting of 13 stages (226 kilometres), the programme climaxed with the event's longest 44-km-long night-time stage on Friday after which Freddy Loix moved up to the lead and Andreas Mikkelsen was second, only 2.7 sec behind him. Jan Kopecký was fifth after Day 1 (- 34 sec).

Day 2 started with a massive attack by Peugeot drivers whose obvious ambition was to catch up with the two drivers in the lead, as a result of which the drivers in the first three places soon found themselves squeezed within just five seconds! In Stage 11, however, Loix who was in the lead at that point had a high-speed crash that cost him the whole rally. Mikkelsen moved up to the top but Neuville got 0.3 sec ahead of him in the lastbut- one stage and then sealed his victory in the last, coming 1.5 sec ahead of ŠKODA UK Motorsport's driver.

Commenting on the San Remo rally, Head of ŠKODA Motorsport Michal Hrabánek says: "San Remo is a difficult rally. We were not far from winning but Neuville was better in the final stage. The last few IRC events have shown how tight and attractive battles this series offers – I am sure that these rallies are an adrenaline sport for both the drivers and the fans. Now we are going to start preparing for the Rally of Scotland in two weeks' time where we will use both our factory crews, i.e. Kopecký & Starý and Hänninen & Markkula."

Jan Kopecký: "Our ambition was to finish higher, San Remo is a very specific event. We did our best, but the drivers ahead of us were simply faster this time."

Freddy Loix: "I'd like to apologise to the whole team for our mistake. We felt fantastic until that point, and we were in the lead. The Fabia was great - I wish to thank all the guys for preparing the car perfectly."

The San Remo Rally was this year's last event with the standard number of points to win. The points at the last two events are based on a coefficient (a multiple of the standard number of points to be won for the championship – Scotland 1.5x, Cyprus 2x), which means that both events will have a significant impact upon the overall standings.

IRC standings after the San Remo Rally:

Kopecký (ŠKODA) 128 points
Neuville (Peugeot) 103 points
Loix (ŠKODA) 103 points
Hänninen (ŠKODA) 98 points

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