WRC 2 in Corsica: Mikkelsen seals win
Andreas Mikkelsen maintained his perfect start to the 2017 WRC 2 championship by claiming a resounding victory at the Che Guevara Energy Drink Tour de Corse on Sunday.
Success in Corsica gave the Norwegian his second WRC 2 win in as many outings – the first coming at January’s Rallye Monte-Carlo.
And a second maximum points haul of the season allowed Mikkelsen to draw level with Pontus Tidemand at the top of the WRC 2 points standings.
Driving a Skoda Motorsport Fabia R5, Mikkelsen was always in total control on the Mediterranean island’s asphalt roads.
He set the fastest time on seven of the 10 stages and, with a 70sec lead at the end of the first day, set about managing his advantage on days two and three.
His winning margin of 66.3sec was also good enough to secure seventh place in the overall results.
Teemu Suninen enjoyed the best asphalt rally of his career to finish second behind Mikkelsen’s Skoda“It’s been a great weekend. We went very safely today to keep our concentration and maintain a safe gap,” said Mikkelsen, who finished third overall on last year’s event with Volkswagen. “It’s nice to have another win for the Skoda team.”
Second place went to Teemu Suninen who was driving a Ford Fiesta R5. The Finn proved to be Mikkelsen’s closest challenger after local driver Eric Camilli hit trouble – in the form of a bridge – on the opening afternoon.
But Suninen’s lack of asphalt experience told and he had to be content with runners-up spot.
“I’ve learned a lot on this rally and really enjoying driving my car. This has been my best race on the Tarmac so I’m happy with that,” he said.
Junior WRC graduate Yohan Rossel completed the podium places as he made an impressive WRC 2 debut on home soil.
The Citroën driver held a 3m16.5sec advantage over reigning Junior WRC champion Simone Tempestini at the finish.
The Romanian moved ahead of Ole Christian Veiby on Sunday’s opening stage when the Norwegian picked up a puncture and lost more than two minutes.
Pierre-Louis Loubet completed the top-six in his Ford Fiesta R5, despite hitting power steering problems on the final morning.
He ended the event 45.9sec ahead of Jan Kopecky who was struck down by a similar problem two days earlier.
Source : WRC.com
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