The 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge was the sixth season of the

Intercontinental Rally Challenge The Intercontinental Rally Challenge was an FIA-sanctioned rallying series organised by SRW Events and Eurosport Events, and aimed to "give new opportunities to young or amateur rally drivers competing in recognised regional and international ral ...

. The season consisted of twelve rounds and started on 19 January with the

Monte Carlo Rally The Monte Carlo Rally or Rallye Monte-Carlo (officially ''Rallye Automobile de Monte-Carlo'') is a rallying event organised each year by the Automobile Club de Monaco. The rally now takes place along the French Riviera in Monaco and southeast ...

. The season ended on 5 November, at the

Cyprus Rally The Cyprus Rally is a rallying competition held yearly in Cyprus since 1970. The event is run by the Cyprus Automobile Association and is based in the city of Limassol (Lemesos). It is run on the winding roads of the nearby mountains of Troödos ...

. The series introduced a new points system for the 2011 season, applying the

FIA FIA is the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (English: International Automobile Federation), the world's governing body for all forms of motor sport where four or more wheels are used. Fia or FIA may also refer to: People * Fia Backst ...

points system – 25–18–15–12–10–8–6–4–2–1 – 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. 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. 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 Neo The Proton Satria is a hatchback automobile produced by Malaysian manufacturer Proton from 1994 to 2005 in the first generation model and from 2006 to 2015 in the Satria Replacement Model (SRM), known as the Proton Satria Neo. The name ''Satria' ...

s were not as competitive as the

Škoda Fabia The Škoda Fabia is a supermini car produced by Czech manufacturer Škoda Auto since 1999. It is the successor of the Škoda Felicia, which was discontinued in 2001. The Fabia was available in hatchback, estate (named Fabia Combi) and saloon ( ...

s or

Peugeot 207 The Peugeot 207 is a supermini car ( B) that was designed and produced by the French automaker Peugeot from 2006 to 2014. It was presented at the Geneva Motor Show in 2006, and entered production in April 2006, as the successor to the Peugeot 2 ...

s. The Monte Carlo Rally had several notable appearances, including

François Delecour François Delecour (born 30 August 1962) is a French rally driver. Biography Career in World Rally Championship François Delecour began rallying in 1981, in the French national championship. He entered his first major event, the Monte Carlo R ...

and 2003 World Rally Champion

Petter Solberg Petter Solberg (born 18 November 1974) is a Norwegian former professional rally and rallycross driver. Solberg debuted in the World Rally Championship in 1998 and was signed by the Ford factory team in 1999. The following year, Solberg started ...

. The final two rallies were won by

Andreas Mikkelsen Andreas Mikkelsen (born 22 June 1989) is a Norwegian rally driver. He is currently competing in the World Rally Championship-2 for Toksport World Rally Team. He previously drove for the factory teams of Volkswagen, Citroën and Hyundai in the Wor ...

, who also took two other podiums and the most stage wins during the season en-route to the championship.

Calendar

The calendar had consisted of twelve events run on two continents. The schedule will include two new countries, France (

Tour de Corse The Tour de Corse is a rally first held in 1956 on the island of Corsica. It was the French round of the World Rally Championship from the inaugural 1973 season until 2008, was part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge from 2011 to 2012, an ...

, former

WRC WRC may refer to: Broadcasting stations * WRC-TV, a television station (virtual channel 4, digital channel 34) licensed to Washington, D.C., United States * Several radio stations in the Washington, D.C. area: ** WTEM, a radio station (980 AM) l ...

event) and Hungary (Asphalt/Gravel Mecsek Rallye), plus a return to Argentina for the new gravel-based Rally de los Alerces. 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. Rally Islas Canarias was reinstated to the calendar on 19 January 2011 at the expense of Rally de los Alerces, which was cancelled.

Rali Vinho da Madeira The Rali Vinho da Madeira is a tarmac rally held in Madeira Island, Portugal, and it is the biggest annual sporting event of the island, bringing thousands of people into the roads to watch the drivers compete through the hilly terrain and the natu ...

was later dropped in June 2011.

Selected entries

Peugeot UK had already confirmed their entry for the 2011 season with Guy Wilks who previously raced for Škoda UK instead of

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

champion

Kris Meeke Kris Meeke (born 2 July 1979) is a Northern Irish professional rally driver, best known for competing in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). He was the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion. His co-driver is Seb Marshall, also B ...

who made the switch to

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

(WRC) driving for

MINI The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

. 2003 World Rally champion

made a one-off appearance at the

for Peugeot. Škoda UK, had also announced their plan to compete in IRC in 2011. The team's single car was occupied by

, who competed in the Skoda Italia-run car, alongside the works cars of the top two drivers in

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Juho Hänninen Juho Ville Matias Hänninen (born 25 July 1981) is a Finnish rally driver. He is the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) champion and 2011 Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) champion with co-driver Mikko Markkula driving a works ...

and

Jan Kopecký Jan Kopecký (born January 28, 1982) is a professional rally driver from Czech Republic who drives for Škoda Motorsport. He is the 2013 ERC champion, 2018 WRC-2 champion as well as a multiple champion of the Czech Rally Championship Career ...

Results

Standings

Drivers

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

Manufacturers

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

2WD Cup drivers' standings

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

2WD Cup manufacturers' standings

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

Production Cup drivers' standings

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

References

External links

The official website of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge
{{Intercontinental Rally Challenge years Intercontinental Rally Challenge seasons