The 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge was the fifth season of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The season consisted of twelve rounds and started on 19 January with the Monte Carlo Rally. The season ended on November 6, at the Cyprus Rally.
Juho Hänninen became the drivers' champion after winning Rally Scotland, the third of his rally wins during the season. Hänninen also won in Argentina and Sardinia as he finished on the podium in ten of the eleven events that he contested during the season, of which three wins and four second places counted towards the championship's best seven scores rule. Škoda Motorsport team-mate Jan Kopecký finished in second place, some 18 points behind Hänninen. Although not as consistent as his team-mate, Kopecký won one event during the season, winning in the Canary Islands.
Third place was claimed by the top Peugeot driver and reigning champion Kris Meeke, after a third place in Scotland took him ahead of Freddy Loix. Meeke's season was blighted by errors of which retiring from five of the eleven events he contested but did take a win in Brazil. Despite taking part in four rallies, Loix's tarmac expertise shone through, winning the events in Ypres, Belgium, Madeira and the Czech Republic as well as a third place in Sanremo. Four other drivers took victories during the season; World Rally Championship front-runner Mikko Hirvonen won a one-off outing in Monte Carlo, Bruno Magalhães took his first IRC win in the Azores, Paolo Andreucci won in Sanremo and Nasser Al-Attiyah won in Cyprus when many of the leading contenders skipped the event. Škoda took the manufacturers' championship after the Barum Rally Zlín in the Czech Republic.
Calendar Rd.Start dateFinish dateRallyRally headquartersSurfaceStagesDistance119 January23 January 78th Rallye Automobile Monte-CarloValence, DrômeMixed14396.18 km24 March6 March 30th Rally Internacional de CuritibaCuritiba, ParanáGravel15216.93 km319 March21 March 30th Rally ArgentinaCarlos Paz, CórdobaGravel15231.45 km429 April1 May 34th Rally Islas Canarias - El Corte InglésLas Palmas, Gran CanariaAsphalt15221.59 km54 June6 June 7th Rally d'Italia SardegnaOlbia, SardiniaGravel13218.70 km624 June26 June 46th Belgium Geko Ypres RallyYpres, West FlandersAsphalt19293.62 km715 July17 July 45th SATA Rallye AçoresPonta Delgada, AzoresGravel19226.32 km85 August8 August 51st Rali Vinho da MadeiraFunchal, MadeiraAsphalt21298.20 km927 August29 August 40th Barum Rally ZlínZlín, Zlín RegionAsphalt17265.26 kmC9 September11 September 47th Rally Principe de AsturiasOviedo, AsturiasAsphalt13256.14 km1023 September25 September 52nd Rallye SanremoSanremo, LiguriaAsphalt11220.03 km1115 October17 October 2nd Rally of ScotlandPerth, ScotlandGravel12196.92 km124 November6 November 39th FxPro Cyprus RallyLimassolGravel14229.34 kmSources: The calendar consisted of twelve events run on two continents. Changes for 2010 season included the replacement of Rally Russia, Rally Japan and the Safari Rally with Rally Argentina, Rally d'Italia Sardegna and Cyprus Rally. In March it was announced that the Rally Islas Canarias would replace the Rally Principe de Asturias as the Spanish round on the schedule, moving from September to April.
Selected entries M-Sport (Ford) and Subaru became the latest registered manufacturers to join the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, alongside Abarth (Fiat), Honda, Ralliart (Mitsubishi), Peugeot, Proton and Škoda. Entrant Manufacturer Car Driver Co-driver Tyres Rounds Peugeot UK Peugeot Peugeot 207 S2000 Kris Meeke Paul Nagle 1–11 Peugeot France Sébastien Ogier Julien Ingrassia 1 5 Stéphane Sarrazin Jacques-Julien Renucci 1, 6 Bryan Bouffier Xavier Panseri 9–10 Peugeot Sport Portugal Bruno Magalhães Carlos Magalhães 1–8, 10 Interwetten Racing Franz Wittmann Klaus Wicha 1, 4–5, 9 Josefine Beinke 12 Bryan Bouffier Xavier Panseri 12 Kimera Motorsport Luca Betti Alessandro Mattioda 1 Pierangelo Scalvini 5 Stohl Racing Daniel Oliveira Carlos del Barrio 1, 3–4, 6–10 Denis Giraudet 2 Armando Miranda 11–12 Peugeot Team Belux Thierry Neuville Nicolas Klinger 4–6, 9–11 Pieter Tsjoen Eddy Chevaillier 6 Yazeed Al Rajhi Team Yazeed Al Rajhi Matthieu Baumel 5 F.P.F. Sport SRL Paolo Andreucci Anna Andreussi 5, 10 Peugeot Team Turkey Burcu Çetinkaya Çiçek Güney 5–12 Bluthunder Racing Italy Corrado Fontana Nicola Arena 6, 8–9 Luigi Fontana Renzo Casazza 8 Duindistel Patrick Snijers Cindy Cokelaere 6 Dominique Bruyneel Lara Vanneste 6, 8 Jean-Charles Descamps 9 Amarante Rally Team Vítor Pascoal Mário Castro 7–8 Power Car Team Marco Tempestini Dorin Pulpea 8 Team C.D. Nacional da Madeira Miguel Nunes Victor Calado 8 Nicos Thomas Racing Nicos Thomas Angelos Loizides 12 M-Sport Ltd. M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 Mikko Hirvonen Jarmo Lehtinen 1 Julien Maurin Gilles Thimonier 1 Andreas Mikkelsen Ola Fløene 5–7, 9–12 Munchi's Ford World Rally Team Federico Villagra Jorge Pérez Companc 3 ESC. Ourense Sergio Vallejo Diego Vallejo 4 Cersanit Rally Team Michał Sołowow Maciek Baran 6 Team Ford Quinta do Lorde Bernardo Sousa Nuno Rodrigues da Silva 7–8 RMC Motorsport Miguel Campos Aloisio Monteiro 8 Czech Ford Rally Team Jaromír Tarabus Daniel Trunkát 9, 12 Martin Prokop Jan Tománek 12 Car Racing Umberto Scandola Guido D'Amore 10 Barwa Rally Team Nasser Al-Attiyah Giovanni Bernacchini 12 Škoda Motorsport Škoda Škoda Fabia S2000 Jan Kopecký Petr Starý 1–10 Juho Hänninen Mikko Markkula 1–11 Nicolas Vouilloz Benjamin Veillas 1 Freddy Loix Frédéric Miclotte 6, 8–10 Škoda UK Guy Wilks Phil Pugh 1–5, 9–11 Barwa Rally Team Nasser Al-Attiyah Giovanni Bernacchini 3 B9 Racing Alberto Hevia Alberto Iglesias 4 René Georges Rally Sport Bernd Casier Francis Caesemaeker 6 Škoda Delimax Czech National Team Pavel Valoušek Zdeněk Hrůza 9 Mogul Racing Team Roman Kresta Petr Gross 9 Motortune Racing Roger Feghali Joseph Matar 12 Astra Racing Abarth Abarth Grande Punto S2000 Toni Gardemeister Tomi Tuominen 1 Procar Luca Rossetti Matteo Chiarcossi 8 Abarth & C. Spa 10 Giandomenico Basso Mitia Dotta 10 Tommi Mäkinen Racing Subaru Subaru Impreza WRX STI Bryan Bouffier Xavier Panseri 1 Barattero Gabriel Pozzo Daniel Stillo 3 Claudio Menzi Diego Cagnotti 3 Motoring Club Teemu Arminen Tuomo Nikkola 5 WAR Racing Luigi Ricci Christine Pfister 5 Subaru Team Arai Toshihiro Arai Daniel Barritt 6 Intercontinental Motul Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX Oswaldo Scheer Gilvan Jablonski 2 Sidinei Bröering 3 Eduardo Scheer Geferson Pavinatto 2–3 Tango Rally Team Federico Bassi Jorge García Quiroga 3 Agustín Elvíra Oscar Tagle 3 Agustín Rossi Leonardo Suaya 3 Gonzalo Monarca Laureano Grigera 3 Team Além Mar Ricardo Moura Sancho Eiró 7 António Costa 8 EuroOil Čepro Czech National Team Václav Pech Petr Uhel 9 Advan-Piaa Rally Team Fumio Nutahara Hakaru Ichino 9 DGM Sport Jonathan Greer Dai Roberts 11 David Bogie Rallying David Bogie Kevin Rae 11 Kresta Racing Roman Kresta Petr Gross / 12 Tango Rally Team Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X Nicolas Madero Guillermo Piazzano 3 Marcos Ligato Rubén García 3 Luciano Bernardi Fabian Cretu 3 Alejandro Cancio Santiego García 3 Juan Jose Gil de Marchi Mauro Albornoz 3 Escudería GPR Sport Rubén Gracia Diego Sanjuan 4 JRM Engineering Per-Gunnar Andersson Anders Fredriksson 5 Heuvel Motorsport Jasper ven den Heuvel Martine Kolman 6 Proton R3 Malaysia Rally Team Proton Proton Satria Neo S2000 Chris Atkinson Stéphane Prévot 6–7 Alister McRae Bill Hayes 6–7, 11 Tom Cave Craig Parry 6–7, 11 Niall McShea Marshall Clarke 9–10 Keith Cronin Barry McNulty 9, 11 Gilles Panizzi Freddy Delorme 10 Catwees Honda Racing Honda Honda Civic Type-R R3 Siim Plangi Marek Sarapuu 9, 11
Results Round Rally name Podium finishers Rank Driver Car Time 1 / Monte Carlo Rally(January 19–23) — Results and report1 Mikko Hirvonen Ford Fiesta S2000 4:32:58.52 Juho Hänninen Škoda Fabia S2000 4:34:49.93 Nicolas Vouilloz Škoda Fabia S2000 4:36:17.6 2 Rally Internacional de Curitiba(March 4–6) — Results and report1 Kris Meeke Peugeot 207 S2000 1:42:45.42 Guy Wilks Škoda Fabia S2000 1:43:32.13 Juho Hänninen Škoda Fabia S2000 1:44:05.6 3 Rally Argentina(March 19–21) — Results and report1 Juho Hänninen Škoda Fabia S2000 2:30:38.12 Guy Wilks Škoda Fabia S2000 2:31:29.13 Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 2:32:58.2 4 Rally Islas Canarias(April 29 – May 1) — Results and report1 Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 2:12:27.42 Juho Hänninen Škoda Fabia S2000 2:12:36.53 Guy Wilks Škoda Fabia S2000 2:13:03.8 5 Rally d'Italia Sardegna(June 4–6) — Results and report1 Juho Hänninen Škoda Fabia S2000 2:31:28.62 Paolo Andreucci Peugeot 207 S2000 2:32:04.23 Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 2:32:06.8 6 Ypres Rally(June 24–26) — Results and report1 Freddy Loix Škoda Fabia S2000 2:35:36.92 Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 2:35:58.33 Thierry Neuville Peugeot 207 S2000 2:37:42.4 7 Rallye Açores(July 15–17) — Results and report1 Bruno Magalhães Peugeot 207 S2000 2:34:00.42 Kris Meeke Peugeot 207 S2000 2:35:00.53 Juho Hänninen Škoda Fabia S2000 2:35:21.1 8 Rali Vinho da Madeira(August 5–7) — Results and report1 Freddy Loix Škoda Fabia S2000 3:08:14.32 Jan Kopecký Škoda Fabia S2000 3:08:52.13 Juho Hänninen Škoda Fabia S2000 3:10:40.1 9 Barum Czech Rally Zlín(August 27–29) — Results and report1 Freddy Loix Škoda Fabia S2000 2:31:31.02 Juho Hänninen Škoda Fabia S2000 2:31:56.03 Pavel Valoušek Škoda Fabia S2000 2:32:51.2 10 Rallye Sanremo(September 23–25) — Results and report1 Paolo Andreucci Peugeot 207 S2000 2:35:32.72 Juho Hänninen Škoda Fabia S2000 2:35:37.13 Freddy Loix Škoda Fabia S2000 2:36:06.8 11 Rally Scotland(October 15–17) — Results and report1 Juho Hänninen Škoda Fabia S2000 2:01:07.42 Andreas Mikkelsen Ford Fiesta S2000 2:01:32.93 Kris Meeke Peugeot 207 S2000 2:04:31.6 12 Cyprus Rally(November 4–6) — Results and report1 Nasser Al-Attiyah Ford Fiesta S2000 3:11:53.52 Roger Feghali Škoda Fabia S2000 3:12:24.23 Martin Prokop Ford Fiesta S2000 3:16:35.5
Standings
Drivers Only the best seven scores from each driver counted towards the championship. Pos Driver MON CUR ARG CAN SAR YPR AZO MAD ZLI SAN SCO CYP T. Pts Drop Pts 1 Juho Hänninen 2 3 1 2 1 Ret 3 3 2 2 1 80 18 62 2 Jan Kopecký 5 4 3 1 3 2 Ret 2 Ret 6 50 3 47 3 Kris Meeke Ret 1 Ret 4 Ret Ret 2 Ret 4 4 3 39 39 4 Freddy Loix 1 1 1 3 36 36 5 Bruno Magalhães 7 5 6 5 5 6 1 Ret 10 30 30 6 Guy Wilks 6 2 2 3 Ret 7 Ret Ret 27 27 7 Andreas Mikkelsen Ret 5 4 5 Ret 2 Ret 21 21 8 Paolo Andreucci 2 1 18 18 9 Thierry Neuville Ret 4 3 Ret 8 Ret 12 12 10 Nasser Al-Attiyah Ret 1 10 10 11 Mikko Hirvonen 1 10 10 12 Roger Feghali 2 8 8 13 Martin Prokop 3 6 6 14 Pavel Valoušek 3 6 6 15 Nicolas Vouilloz 3 6 6 16 Jaromír Tarabus 8 4 6 6 17 Stéphane Sarrazin 4 Ret 5 5 18 David Bogie 4 5 5 19 Bernd Casier 4 5 5 20 Miguel Nunes 4 5 5 21 Gabriel Pozzo 4 5 5 22 Ricardo Moura 5 10 4 4 23 Luca Rossetti Ret 5 4 4 24 Vítor Sá 5 4 4 25 Nicos Thomas 5 4 4 26 Federico Villagra 5 4 4 27 Siim Plangi Ret 6 4 4 28 Vítor Pascoal 6 18 3 3 29 Roman Kresta Ret 6 3 3 30 Eduardo Scheer 6 Ret 3 3 31 Teemu Arminen 6 3 3 32 Filipe Freitas 6 3 3 33 Alberto Hevia 6 3 3 34 Václav Pech 6 3 3 35 Eamonn Boland 19 7 3 3 36 Daniel Oliveira 20 7 Ret Ret Ret 21 Ret Ret Ret Ret 2 2 37 Giandomenico Basso 7 2 2 38 Nicolás Madero 7 2 2 39 João Magalhães 7 2 2 40 Luigi Ricci 7 2 2 41 Michał Sołowow 7 2 2 42 Charalambos Timotheou 7 2 2 43 Pedro Vale 7 2 2 44 Burcu Çetinkaya Ret Ret 19 44 38 8 15 2 2 45 Ruben Gracia 12 2 2 46 Daniele Batistini 8 1 1 47 Luca Betti Ret 8 1 1 48 Diego Domínguez 8 1 1 49 Sérgio Silva 8 1 1 50 Constantinos Tingirides 8 1 1 51 Jean-Sébastien Vigion 8 1 1 52 Harry Hunt 34 12 Ret 49 48 9 19 1 1 53 Pedro Peres 9 1 1 54 Marcos Tokarski 11 1 1 55 Sergio Vallejo 13 1 1 Pos Driver MON CUR ARG CAN SAR YPR AZO MAD ZLI SAN SCO CYP T. Pts Drop Pts
Manufacturers Only the best seven scores from each manufacturer counted towards the championship.