Mikkelsen wins Colin McRae IRC award

Andreas Mikkelsen has followed in the footsteps of some of his Intercontinental Rally Challenge rivals, including Juho Hänninen, Jan Kopecký and Thierry Neuville, by becoming a recipient of the prestigious Colin McRae IRC Flat Out Trophy.

The panel of judges, consisting of Gilbert Roy, Eurosport Events’ Director of Editorial and Programme Development, IRC Motorsport Development Manager Jean-Pierre Nicolas and Colin’s father Jim McRae, chose Mikkelsen following his battling run to fourth overall on the Prime Yalta Rally yesterday.

Mikkelsen was closing on Kopecký for third overall with three stages remaining only to spin backwards into a small tree after touching a patch of gravel an handful of corners from the end of stage 12. The impact inflicted damage to the exhaust and right-rear corner of his Škoda UK Motorsport Fabia, which he and co-driver Ola Fløene repaired by attaching a ratchet strap to a lamppost to pull some flailing bodywork clear of the exhaust.

His endeavour, plus his efforts to recover from an earlier puncture by setting three fastest stage times, made him the unanimous choice among the judges who felt his performance best embodied the spirit of rallying legend McRae.

After receiving the award from Nicolas following the rally finish in Yalta, Mikkelsen said: “Of course he’s a big legend in rallying and definitely a figure I look up to for his attacking style. After the puncture it was all about getting with it. Even when there were a lot of things happening to us we never gave up. This prize I really appreciate.”

Of his efforts to repair his damaged Fabia, Mikkelsen added: "It was crazy, we just needed to use our imagination. I couldn’t fix it with a hammer so I needed to find something bigger [and found a lamppost]. We used some straps, it was quite spectacular watching it."