Mikkelsen: Win removed stress

Andreas Mikkelsen is driving with a renewed sense of freedom following last year’s maiden WRC victory which he hopes will lead to even greater success.

The Volkswagen driver starts this week’s Rally Sweden with the pressure removed from his shoulders following his win in Spain, when he profited from an uncharacteristic mistake by team-mate Sébastien Ogier who crashed out of the lead in the final stage.

Mikkelsen’s breakthrough win came after several near misses, most notably 12 months ago in Sweden when he handed the win to Ogier by spinning out of the lead just a few kilometres from the finish.

“We were close in many rallies last year, but in the end I was straight out of luck or we didn’t have the necessary pace to challenge Sébastien. So it was really nice when the win finally arrived, because I was starting to get quite stressed about it. Now it’s done, I think it will be much easier to do it again,” he told RedBull.com.

“If I come into that situation again fighting for the win, it won’t be such a big deal anymore. I will be able to focus on doing the best job that I can instead of being stressed and thinking ‘wow, maybe I can win this rally’. It makes it easier to think about the correct things.”

The Norwegian will aim to give his home fans something to cheer at the WRC’s second round, which spends much of Friday’s opening leg across the border in Norway.