ŠKODA UK Motorsport Fabia S2000 driver Andreas Mikkelsen leads the Cyprus Rally after Leg 1, and will be crowned Intercontinental Rally Challenge drivers’ champion if he finishes in that position tomorrow afternoon.
The mixture of asphalt and gravel stages in the sun-baked mountains above Pafos today have proved every bit as difficult as Andreas and co-driver Ola Fløene had predicted, with two of the five IRC contenders, Juho Hänninen and Thierry Neuville, retiring (although both will restart tomorrow under Superally rules).
Andreas has driven brilliantly and set fastest time on four of Leg 1’s five stages to lead on Friday night, ending a demanding day 20.7 seconds ahead of 2nd placed Nasser Al-Attiyah. Jan Kopecký (ŠKODA Motorsport) maintains his challenge for the IRC title in 3rd.
With Leg 1 starting last night, Andreas started today with a 3.1 second lead, after he’d set the fastest time around the Pafos superspecial. The 22-year old FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy pilot then increased his lead to eight seconds on SS2 this morning, before dropping to 2nd place after a spin on SS3.
The drama continued after the lunchtime service halt in Pafos, when the Koilinia (15 miles/24.15kms; 35.5% asphalt / 64.5% gravel) and Salamiou (11.28 miles/18.16kms; 64.2% asphalt / 35.8% gravel) stages were repeated in the afternoon.
Andreas’s rear boot opened 5 miles (3.1kms) into SS4, but despite the car filling up with dust, he still managed to set the fastest time – incredibly 18.2 seconds quicker than he’d completed the same stage earlier in the morning. With the sun setting over the Mediterranean, Andreas ended the day with fastest time on SS5.
Andreas: “It’s been a very good day and we’re happy to be leading. The stages are very nice and we tried to find a good rhythm, but it wasn’t easy. We had a spin this morning, when we hit some loose gravel coming into a corner and lost the back of the car, but you have to push if you want to try and stay in front.
“Running first on the road tomorrow will be difficult and Nasser [Al-Attiyah] is very quick and will be difficult to beat, but we will try our best to keep him behind us.”
The second and final leg takes place tomorrow. It contains two runs over three stages; the all-gravel Gialia (9.2 mile/14.82km) test, the all-asphalt Stavros stage (9.8 miles/15.91km) and the mixed surface Anadiou (11.9mile/19.15km) stage. The rally finishes at 18.00 local time.
Positions after SS5
1. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)….1hr 07mins 17.7secs
2. Nasser Al-Attiyah/Giovanni Bernacchini (Ford Fiesta S2000)….+20.7secs
3. Jan Kopecký/Pavel Dresler (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)….+46.1secs
4. Freddy Loix/Frédéric Miclotte (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +1min 41.2secs
5. Patrik Sandell/Staffan Parmander (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)….+1mins 46.3secs
6. Karl Kruuda/Martin Järveoja (ŠKODA Fabia S2000)….+2mins 43.5secs
