Mikkelsen satisfied despite Acropolis woe

Andreas Mikkelsen says the experience he gained on his Acropolis Rally debut last month more than made up for the disappointment of his retirement on the final day of Greece’s round of the FIA World Rally Championship.

Co-driven by Ola Floene, Mikkelsen was on course for a top 10 finish in his Volkswagen Motorsport-run Skoda Fabia Super 2000 when disaster struck on stage 18 of the 22-stage event.

“I misunderstood a [pace note from] Ola and went into a corner too quickly,” said the 22-year-old Norwegian. “When I noticed I braked, but sideswiped a rock and damaged the left rear suspension.

“On one hand I’m somewhat disappointed but on the other hand I’m very satisfied. We were able to collect experience on the stages, which were completely new to us and also see that we could essentially maintain the pace of our team mates. On the other hand there is our late retirement.”

There were no such problems for Mikkelsen’s team-mate Sebastien Ogier who finished seventh overall, the fourth event in succession that the French driver has scored WRC points.

“We achieved the maximum with our Fabia S2000,” said Ogier. “The rally with its long days was also a real challenge for our team and I can only thank and congratulate the crew for its performance.”