Loix secures Madeira victory

The Belgian led the majority of the event, chased initially by Luca Rossetti until the returnee Abarth driver crashed out.

Kris Meeke (Peugeot) and Jan Kopecky (Skoda) then battled over the runner-up spot, but yet again Meeke would be out of luck. Having only just resolved an alternator problem this morning, and engine issue then forced him to retire from the event.

That left Kopecky secure in second, where he would finish 37.8 seconds down on the victorious Loix, who has now won on both his IRC guest starts with Skoda this year.

Championship leader Juho Hanninen had to settle for third this time, fighting back ahead of local Peugeot driver Miguel Nunes following a puncture on the final day.

Pos  Driver              Car           Time/Gap
 1.  Freddy Loix         Skoda       3h08m14.3s
 2.  Jan Kopecky         Skoda          + 37.8s
 3.  Juho Hanninen       Skoda        + 2m25.8s
 4.  Miguel Nunes        Peugeot      + 2m42.7s
 5.  Vitor Sa            Peugeot      + 3m13.7s
 6.  Filipe Freitas      Mitsubishi   + 9m03.2s
 7.  Joao Magalhaes      Mitsubishi   + 9m29.0s
 8.  Pedro Peres         Mitsubishi  + 10m39.8s
 9.  Ricardo Moura       Mitsubishi  + 11m06.3s
10.  Dominique Bruyneel  Mitsubishi  + 12m38.9s