2011 Tour de Corse
The Tour de Corse 2011 was the 54th staging of the Tour de Corse and the third round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge 2011. The rally was held from 12 to 14 May 2011, on the French island of Corsica instead.
Background
The rally was a round trip over a large part of Corsica and led by paved roads. The rally began in Calvi in the northwest of the island, led over Corte and ended in Ajaccio. The program consisted of 14 special stages, including two on the first day and six on the second and third day. A special stages, however, was canceled. Rather than as provided for 320.84 km were therefore counted only 297.6 km. The total distance including liaison stages was 1161.95 km.
The Championship leader Juho Hänninen, did not occur at the rally. The Subaru Impreza R4 had his first appearance at a rally IRC and was driven by Toshihiro Arai. 48 cars lined up at the start.
Course
The two special stages on the first day decided Thierry Neuville in the Kronos Peugeot for themselves. He was at the end of the day with 8.9 seconds ahead of Škoda - driver Jan Kopecký work in leadership.
In WP3 Neuville lost after a spin up a large part of his boss, the then only 1.4 seconds behind the new runner, Bryan Bouffier, was. In WP4 Bouffier the fastest time and took the lead. Guy Wilks, who was previously at number three, was forced after an accident on this examination to the task. In WP5 Bouffier had a puncture and he lost over a minute, so he fell back in the standings to sixth place. Thus Neuville got back the lead. The sixth special stage was of a serious accident by Ari Vatanen and his son Max in the lead car, a Peugeot 207 RC overshadowed. The test was therefore aborted. In the afternoon Neuville brought the action back under his control and achieved the best times on WP7 and WP8. At the end of the day, his lead was already on Kopecký 23.4 seconds. Freddy Loix and Andreas Mikkelsen had even just a few seconds behind Kopecký and it developed a close battle for spots on the podium.
Kopecký presented on SS9, the first test on the third day, a high speed and reduced his deficit to 14.5 seconds. In the following three tests Neuville let his followers not to get closer and again achieved three best times. Tyre damage on WP12 cost Mikkelsen three minutes. Thus he lost his chances of winning the third place, he fell back to eighth place in the overall standings. Behind Loix in fourth place was now the surprisingly strong local hero Pierre Campana, of a close duel with Bouffier delivered himself. On the last two tests Neuville had it again a little slower approach and managed his lead. Kopecký, however, came not approach more critical. On the final WP14 Bouffier had a serious departure into the bushes, as a result of the competition was over for him. Campana lost due to a puncture about two and a half minutes, but his fourth place he could thanks to the large projection defend his pursuers.
The Rally Neuville won with 15.5 seconds ahead of second place Kopecký and Loix 1:02,6 minutes ago in third place. The young Belgian was able to celebrate his first win in the IRC and was at age 22 for the youngest ever winner of an IRC Rally. The 2WD competition was won by Pierre -Antoine Guglielmi, won in the Production Car Florian Gonon. A total of 31 vehicles crossed the finish line. The championship now Loix led with five points ahead of Neuville and Kopecký on.