On his first rally in a Super 2000 car, Finnish driver Juho Hanninen won Rally Russia at the wheel of the Kronos team celebrity Peugeot 207, heading the works Abarth Grande Puntos of last year's winner Anton Alen and Giandomenico Basso. Seventeen year old Russian prodigy Evgeny Novikov held second place until he retired on the final stage, while Simon Jean Joseph finished top two-wheel drive car in his demonstrator C2 R2 Max after GuyWilks struck trouble in his JAS Honda.

2008 Rally Russia was a grander affair than last year when the IRC first came to the country. There were three day instead of two, and typical to the innovative IRC events, there was a ceremonial start on the Thursday evening, at the end of the first day's rallying! Every day consisted ofjust two different stages, each run twice, making a total of 12 stages in all.

Before the rally and one year on after creating an international name for himself, 17 year old Novikov faced two dilemmas: whether to use a new or an old Subaru or whether to continue with a Russian codriver or try out a foreign one. His team went testing in Estonia and made two decisions. In both case they opted to run the N12 Impreza and take the Australian codriver Dale Moscatt, whose previous drivers included Cody Crocker and the late Chinese rallyman Xu Lang.

It was also to be a rougher event. The event was again held at Vyborg over flat sandy stages which released immense rocks as the cars went past. Notwithstanding this being his first ever rally in a Super 2000 car, Juho Hanninen went immediately into the lead despite a puncture, and he was chased by last year's winner Anton Alen before the Finn was slowed by two punctures. Second on Thursday evening was Basso in front of Kopecky'sPeugeot, hurried rebuilt after its Ypres accident. Auriol was out for the day with suspension failure after hitting a rock, Sola also with engine failure, while Vouilloz and Loix were both delayed by punctures and Tirabassi by clutch trouble. Going well was Guy Wilks, the best two wheel drive car, while his rival Meeke (Renault Clio R3) had a puncture.

Delayed on the first stage of Day 2 by a misting windscreen, Basso was passed by Kopecky, Novikov and Vouilloz but then the Czech driver punctured leaving Novikov in second place with Alen climbing back at third. Auriol restarted but again had to stop, this time with differential and brake problems. Vertunov had been lying seventh in his Subaru N14 but then hit a rock and damaged the engine. Both British driven two wheel drive cars stopped, Wilks with electrical trouble and Meeke with a holed sump. Wilks carried on but stopped finally with gave up with transmission trouble. All this meant that the little C2 R2 Max of Citroen's "rallying ambassador" Simon Jean Joseph was in the top ten - and best 2wd car. On the penultimate stage Novikov damaged his suspension but carried on with one wheel missing, his brave drive finally coming to an end on the final stage when the damaged fuel tank eventually ran dry. This enabled Alen finally to regain his long lost second place, the top placed local driver was Oleg Antropov who came ninth overall in an old Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI.

“I am actually very surprised to win,” said Hanninen, who first competed on the IRC this year  on the Rally Portugal, finishing fifth in a Group N Mitsubishi. “There was a lot for me to learn  about the car and the event, but on the second day in particular I felt a lot more comfortable  with it. It’s a lot of fun and I hope to have the chance to drive it again.”

The championship now moves to Madeira with Luca Rossetti (absent from Russia as he was preparing for a rally in his native Italy next weekend) and now Nicolas Vouilloz equal on 26 points with Loix third at 16 and Kopecky with 15. Not since Basso's win in Madeira last year has Fiat beaten Peugeot in the IRC

3mmm
photo1: Peugeot - Hanninen
photo2: Subaru - Novikov
photo3: Fiat - Alen
photo4: Honda - Wilks

Rally Russia 10-12 July 2008 Vyborg gravel
1 Hanninen/Markkula          Peugeot 207 Super 2000   2h14m27.0s
2 Alen/Alanne                Fiat Grande Punto S2000  2h16m38.2s
3 Basso/Dotta                Fiat Grande Punto S2000  2h17m11.2s
4 Loix/Buysmans              Peugeot 207 Super 2000   2h17m56.4s
5 Vouilloz/Klinger           Peugeot 207 Super 2000   2h19m57.8s
6 Kopecky/Stary              Peugeot 207 Super 2000   2h21m21.4s
7 Tirabassi/Gordon           Peugeot 207 Super 2000   2h23m30.2s
8 Jean-Joseph/Boyere         Citroen C2 R2 Max        2h25m09.3s