Mecsek prologue: Mikkelsen takes the passenger seat

Since Friday night´s prologue for the Canon Mecsek Rallye didn’t count towards the overall results, ŠKODA UK´s Andreas Mikkelsen swapped seats with co-driver Ola Fløene for the 1.2km stage, which was won by local driver Dávid Botka.

The official opening ceremony was held in the centre of the historic city of Pécs, in Széchenyi Square, where the Pannon Philharmonic orchestra performed a piece of music composed specially for the occasion. From there, the action transferred to the plaza car park, which had been set up as a short slalom course.

“I was so nervous, but it was great fun,” said Ola. “But I think that’s it – never again!”

Unfortunately the duo finished outside the top 10 in an event which, although it did not count towards the final standings, was hotly contested. Of the regular IRC frontrunners, Peugeot driver Bruno Magalhães was the quickest, finishing second overall and just 0.2s down on the Lancer Evo IX driven by Botka.

"There is rarely a stage in a rally where the result doesn’t matter," said Magalhães. "I really liked that there were so many spectators - I enjoyed it!"

Prologue top 10:
1 Dávid Botka/Zsolt Szenner (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) 1m06.0s
2 Bruno Magalhães/Paulo Grave Peugeot 207 S2000 +0.2s
3 Jan Kopecký/Petr Starý (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +0.2s
4 Bryan Bouffier/Xavier Panseri Peugeot 207 S2000 +1.0s
5 Zsolt Kakuszi/Csaba Kakuszi (Ford Fiesta S2000) +1.8s
6 Freddy Loix/Frédéric Miclotte (ŠKODA Fabia S2000) +1.8s
7 Róbert Bútor/Igor Bacigal (Peugeot 207 S2000) +1.9s
8 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Peugeot 207 S2000) +1.9s
9 Per-Gunnar Andersson/Emil Axelsson (PROTON Satria Neo S2000) +2.0s
10 Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Peugeot 207 S2000) +2.0s