IRC friends reunited for Norwegian rally

Andreas Mikkelsen will be reunited with the car he used to win the 2011 Intercontinental Rally Challenge title when he contests the Mountain Rally in his native Norway on Saturday (14 January).

The snow event, the opening round of the Norwegian championship, is based in the winter ski resort of Gol 190 kilometres north-west of the capital Oslo. It consists of six stages over a competitive distance of 143 kilometres.

Mikkelsen will pilot the ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 he used to win the IRC-counting RACMSA Rally of Scotland and the Cyprus Rally last year. His victories on the two season-closing events were pivotal to his IRC title success alongside co-driver Ola Fløene.

Following the Cyprus Rally, the Fabia was sold to Mikkelsen’s manager Erik Veiby, who plans to run it in this season’s Swedish championship for rising star and IRC aspirant Pontus Tidemand once Mikkelsen has driven it in competition for what could be a final time this weekend.

“The Mountain Rally will be a good early pre-season test and I’m really looking forward to getting back into a rally car after the Christmas break,” said the ŠKODA UK-backed Mikkelsen. “I’ve done the event twice before and it’s usually a proper snow rally with high snow banks, although this year the winter has arrived very late in Norway. It’s not such a long rally, but more than enough to shake the cobwebs off.”