SS4: Mikkelsen scores first stage victory

Andreas Mikkelsen has hit back in the battle for victory on Rally San Marino by claiming his first stage win on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier.

Mikkelsen, in a ŠKODA UK Motorsport Fabia Super 2000, was 0.6s quicker than Giandomenico Basso’s M-Sport Ford Fiesta RRC to go 2.4s clear of the Italian driver heading to tonight’s all-asphalt stage in San Marino.

“Things are going as we want but I can see where I am losing time to Basso,” said Mikkelsen. “When the road is fast it’s no problem but when there are hairpins I have no chance [against his turbo car].”

Umberto Scandola continues to impress in his down-on-power Fabia, going 1.4s slower than Mikkelsen to remain in third overall.

“We are at 80 or 90 per cent with the engine,” said Scandola. “We need to push more because of this but sometimes we are too much and we go out of the line in the corner.”

Sepp Wiegand lost ground when he spun and lost approximately 15s trying to get pointing in the right direction again. The German is 31.5s off the lead. “It felt like we had a flat tyre all the time,” said the ŠKODA Auto Deutschland driver. “This stage was not so nice but tomorrow is a new day.”

Juha Salo completed the stage with a rear-left puncture on his Fiesta S2000, which he said occurred three kilometres from the stage finish after hitting some stones on a right-hand bend.