Mikkelsen targets podium on favoured surface

Andreas Mikkelsen hopes that his preference for driving on gravel will hand him a slight advantage over his Intercontinental Rally Challenge rivals on Sata Rallye Açores this week.

The 22-year-old ŠKODA UK Motorsport ace is chasing his first podium in this season’s IRC at the wheel of the Fabia Super 2000 he shares with co-driver and fellow Norwegian Ola Fløene.

He said: “It will be interesting to see the level of the drivers on gravel this year after five rallies on asphalt. I feel very comfortable on asphalt, but I always consider myself a little bit more of a gravel driver, so this rally certainly shouldn’t put me at a disadvantage. For sure we want to be on the podium at the finish – and that’s the aim in the Azores.”

“I really enjoy rallying in the Azores because the stages are really nice, especially the volcano stage Sete Cidades, which is a beautiful stage with big drops,” Mikkelsen continued. “The rest of the rally has beautiful landscape too, very green, nice and warm and really challenging for a driver.”

Mikkelsen is seventh in the IRC drivers’ table having failed to finish on Rallye Monte-Carlo and last month’s GEKO Ypres Rally.