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Circuit of Ireland 2012

Good weather conditions added to the success of the Donnelly Circuit of Ireland 2012 and crowds enjoyed top class motorsport at the various stages. Mikkelsen in Skoda was the favourite and showed great times over Irish roads during his testing a few days prior to the Rally. Hanninen also in Skoda was anxious to establish his superiority and his determination was evident during his testing. However Kopecky  another Skoda IRC driver was in the mix too. From the start it was obvious that this battle was going to be between Mikkelsen and Hanninen and so it was untilMikkelsen missed a turn in Lisburn and collided with the bales. This lost him 40s but he regainedthat to come within a little over 2s of the leader before the end. However it was Hanninen’s rally and this has added a 4th win to his credit in IRC this year. Kopecky remained steady, took no chances, and secured 3rd place.Dubliner, Robert Barrable with co-driver, Damien Connolly, had a good outing and finished 8th behind Gass in 4th; the French Arzeno in Peugeot 5th; Chris Breen in 6th despite getting a 1.30 penalty for late into service; and in 7th place Eugene Donnelly. Sam Moffett finished in 13th place behind D. Kelly in 12th; Josh Moffett was in 17th place.
Declan McMahon supplied the following selection of photos from the Circuit.