Mikkelsen vows to make up for Cyprus woe

Andreas Mikkelsen has vowed to do all he can to make the start of Sunday’s inaugural Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally following his retirement from the FxPro Cyprus Rally earlier today.

The 21-year-old from Norway completed Thursday’s opening superspecial stage in second overall (pictured), but suffered early heartache when his M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 suffered engine failure on the road section heading to Friday’s first stage, the 10.42-kilometre Kalavasos test.

“The Golden Stage Rally is a different event so we will see what options we have [to change the engine],” said Mikkelsen, who has impressed on several rounds of this season’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Of his exit from the Cyprus Rally, Mikkelsen added: “We had a lot of potential for this rally and it’s a shame we can’t show it. But that is rallying and things like this happen.”

Mikkelsen is one of the favourites to win the Golden Stage Rally, which features a single 25-kilometre stage run twice and carries a top prize of 10,000 Euros.