2010 Rally Azores

The 2010 Sata Rally Azores, officially 45º Sata Rallye Açores, was the seventh round of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) season. The 19 stage gravel rally took place on the island of São Miguel in the Azores between 15–17 July 2010.^[1][2]

2010 Sata Rally Azores 45º Sata Rallye Açores
Round 7 of the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge season ← Previous event Next event →
Rally Azores Logo
Host country	Portugal
Rally base	Ponta Delgada, São Miguel, Azores
Dates run	July 15 – 17 2010
Stages	19 (217.90 km; 135.40 miles)[1][2]
Stage surface	Gravel
Overall distance	799.99 km (497.09 miles)
Statistics
Crews	38 at start, 22 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Bruno Magalhães Peugeot Sport Portugal

Introduction

The rally was based in the major city of Ponta Delgada. Day one consisted of three stages covering a total of 24.40 km (15.16 mi). Day two covered a total of 98.46 km (61.18 mi) over nine stages with the remaining seven stages, covering 95.04 km (59.06 mi) were completed on day three.

Results

Bruno Magalhães became the sixth different winner of an IRC rally in 2010, after taking advantage of troubles for the Škodas of championship contenders Juho Hänninen and Jan Kopecký over the closing stages of the rally. Magalhães had dominated the early running of the event, holding a 2.2-second advantage into the final day.^[3] Hänninen eroded the gap on the first stage on Saturday, but would have to wait until stage fifteen to take the lead, as stage fourteen was cancelled after Andreas Mikkelsen hit a stray cow.^[4] Hänninen would hold the lead until the penultimate stage, when he picked up a right-front puncture on the Graminhais test, losing nearly two minutes to his chasers, falling to fourth behind Kopecký, Magalhães and Kris Meeke. Kopecký held a lead of 6.4 seconds going into the final 21.94 km (13.63 mi) Tronqueira test over Magalhães.^[5] However, Kopecký's bid for a second win of the season would come to a premature end as he slid off the road with four kilometres remaining in the stage.^[6] His bad luck rewarded Magalhães with his first-ever win in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, with Meeke coming home in second to record Peugeot's first 1-2 in the series since Meeke and Nicolas Vouilloz finished in those positions at the 2009 Rally International de Curitiba. Hänninen's third-place finish extended his championship lead over Kopecký to nine points, with Magalhães moving into third position.

Overall

Pos.	Driver	Co-driver	Car	Time	Difference	Points
1.	Bruno Magalhães	Carlos Magalhães	Peugeot 207 S2000	2:34:00.4	0.0	10
2.	Kris Meeke	Paul Nagle	Peugeot 207 S2000	2:35:00.5	1:00.1	8
3.	Juho Hänninen	Mikko Markkula	Škoda Fabia S2000	2:35:21.1	1:20.7	6
4.	Andreas Mikkelsen	Ola Fløene	Ford Fiesta S2000	2:38:46.0	4:45.6	5
5.	Ricardo Moura	Sancho Eiró	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX	2:39:22.4	5:22.0	4
6.	Vítor Pascoal	Mário Castro	Peugeot 207 S2000	2:42:59.1	8:58.7	3
7.	Pedro Vale	Rui Medeiros	Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VII	2:44:55.7	10:55.3	2
8.	Sérgio Silva	Paulo Leal	Subaru Impreza WRX STI	2:46:54.9	12:54.5	1

Special stages

Day	Stage	Time	Name	Length	Winner	Time	Avg. spd.	Rally leader
Leg 1 (15 July)	SS1	16:40	Lagoa/Marques 1	14.90 km	Bruno Magalhães	10:14.4	87.30 km/h	Bruno Magalhães
	SS2	17:19	Coroa da Mata	7.50 km	Juho Hänninen	6:30.3	69.18 km/h
	SS3	17:55	Grupo Marques 1	2.00 km	Andreas Mikkelsen	1:47.3	67.10 km/h	Juho Hänninen
Leg 2 (16 July)	SS4	10:03	Batalha Golfe 1	7.90 km	Bruno Magalhães	5:48.0	81.72 km/h	Bruno Magalhães
	SS5	10:38	Feteiras 1	7.47 km	Jan Kopecký	5:48.5	77.16 km/h
	SS6	11:03	Sete Cidades 1	18.30 km	Bruno Magalhães	13:14.9	82.88 km/h
	SS7	12:57	Batalha Golfe 2	7.90 km	Juho Hänninen	5:39.1	83.87 km/h
	SS8	13:32	Feteiras 2	7.47 km	Kris Meeke	5:40.7	78.93 km/h
	SS9	13:57	Sete Cidades 2	18.30 km	Bruno Magalhães	13:05.9	83.83 km/h
	SS10	15:57	Lagoa/Marques 2	14.90 km	Juho Hänninen	10:03.8	88.84 km/h
	SS11	16:50	Achada das Furnas 1	8.42 km	Jan Kopecký	6:01.2	83.92 km/h
	SS12	17:13	Lomba da Maia 1	7.80 km	Juho Hänninen	4:15.1	110.07 km/h
Leg 3 (17 July)	SS13	10:17	Achada das Furnas 2	8.42 km	Juho Hänninen	5:51.6	86.21 km/h	Bruno Magalhães Juho Hänninen
	SS14	10:45	Graminhais 1	20.68 km	stage cancelled
	SS15	11:33	Tronqueira 1	21.94 km	Bernardo Sousa	18:42.2	70.38 km/h	Juho Hänninen
	SS16	13:20	Grupo Marques 2	2.00 km	Juho Hänninen	1:46.6	67.54 km/h
	SS17	15:22	Lomba da Maia 2	7.80 km	Juho Hänninen	4:15.8	109.77 km/h
	SS18	15:53	Graminhais 2	20.68 km	Jan Kopecký	15:29.7	80.08 km/h	Jan Kopecký
	SS19	16:41	Tronqueira 2	21.94 km	Kris Meeke	18:35.5	70.81 km/h	Bruno Magalhães

References

1. "Itinerary Days 1 and 2" (PDF). Intercontinental Rally Challenge. 30 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
2. "Itinerary Day 3" (PDF). Intercontinental Rally Challenge. 30 March 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 July 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
3. "Magalhães holds slender lead in the Azores". ircseries.com. Intercontinental Rally Challenge. 2010-07-16. Archived from the original on 2010-10-11. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
4. "Cows on road force stage axe". ircseries.com. Intercontinental Rally Challenge. 2010-07-17. Archived from the original on 2010-10-11. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
5. "Puncture for Hänninen in Azores". ircseries.com. Intercontinental Rally Challenge. 2010-07-17. Archived from the original on 2010-10-10. Retrieved 2010-07-17.
6. "Magalhães takes last-gasp win". ircseries.com. Intercontinental Rally Challenge. 2010-07-17. Archived from the original on 2010-10-10. Retrieved 2010-07-17.

External links

• The official website for the rally
• The official website of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge