› Reigning IRC champion Mikkelsen started his mission of defending his championship title
› Hänninen, last year's winner of the Sata Rally Acores, came second
› A great debut by Sepp Wiegand
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Ponta Delgada, 25 February, 2012 – Reigning IRC champion Andreas Mikkelsen of ŠKODA UK Motorsport made the best possible step in his effort to repeat his last year's victory in the IRC championship. In the opening event of the 2012 IRC, the Sata Rally Acores, Mikkelsen put in a brilliant performance to mark his first win in the new season and extend the streak of top-class performances he started by dominating the last two events of 2011 (Scotland and Cyprus). Juho Hänninen of ŠKODA Motorsport (factory team), last year's winner of the Sata Rally Acores, came second. Fourth place is a reason to celebrate for Sepp Wiegand of ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland who made his IRC debut in the Azores. The dominance of ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000s was sealed by Hermann Gassner jr. of Red Bull who finished fifth.