SS13: Mikkelsen snatches Azores lead

The battle for victory on Sata Rallye Açores has taken another dramatic twist after Andreas Mikkelsen moved into the lead of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier.

In heavy fog, Mikkelsen was 4.0s faster than Juho Hänninen on Saturday’s opening stage in his ŠKODA UK Motorsport Fabia. The Norwegian is now 2.7s ahead of his Finnish rival in the overall standings despite hitting a bank on a right-hand corner in the middle of the 20.8-kilometre Graminhais test.

“It was a big hit, I couldn’t see anything on a right-hand corner and I went in too early and needed to take the car back again,” said Mikkelsen. “I hit the rear left and we were really lucky not to have a puncture. It was nice to drive afterwards.”

Hänninen said: “I missed one junction a bit, there were quite big rocks. I tried but it was difficult. The visibility was sometimes so, so bad. I tried to push but it was very slippery.”

Jan Kopecký, who was fastest on the stage, has moved into third place ahead of Bruno Magalhães despite reporting a problem with the powersteering on his ŠKODA Motorsport Fabia.

Meanwhile, Mãgalhaes’ slender hopes of repeating his Sata Rallye Açores of 2010 are over after he reported a transmission problem on his Peugeot Sport Portugal 207.

Bryan Bouffier, who is running first on the road in his Peugeot France 207, said: “It was completely terrible, not easy to drive in these conditions. I tried to drive well without any risks but it’s hard to see the road.”

Overall positions after SS13