SS5: Mikkelsen extends advantage

And leads at the end of day one

By

4 November 2011 - 16:44

A third stage victory of the day has ensured Andreas Mikkelsen tops the Cyprus Rally leaderboard at the completion of day one of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier.

Driving a ŠKODA UK Motorsport Fabia Super 2000, Mikkelsen headed Nasser Al-Attiyah by 2.0s over the mixed-surface Salamiou 2 stage shown live on Eurosport, LTV and RTBF. The Norwegian’s overnight lead stands at 20.7s.

Al-Attiyah, the winner in Cyprus 12 months ago, lost precious seconds running wide on a left-hand bend in his M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000.

Freddy Loix, who was fourth quickest in his BFO-ŠKODA Rally Team Fabia, 9.6s slower than IRC title leader Jan Kopecký, suffered a spin. Karl Kruuda also spun avoiding striking a rock in his privateer Fabia.

A front-right puncture caused Mark Wallenwein further delay in his ŠKODA Auto Deutschland entry.

Crews are now heading to the overnight service halt in Pafos. The action resumes with the 14.82-kilometre Gialia stage on Saturday morning.

Pos.	Team	Car	Time
1	Mikkelsen Andreas / Floene Ola	Škoda Fabia S2000	1h07m17.7s
2	Al-Attiyah N. / Bernacchini G.	Ford Fiesta S2000	+20.7s
3	Kopecký Jan / Starý Petr	Škoda Fabia S2000	+46.1s
4	Loix Freddy / Dresler Pavel	Škoda Fabia S2000	+1m41.2s
5	Sandell Patrik / Parmander S.	Škoda Fabia S2000	+1m46.3s
6	Kruuda Karl / Järveoja M.	Škoda Fabia S2000	+2m43.5s
7	Kahle Matthias / Göbel Peter	Škoda Fabia S2000	+3m30.6s
8	Arai Toshihiro / Moscatt Dale	Subaru Impreza Sti R4	+4m35.3s
9	Thomas Nicos / Loizides A.	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	+5m23.7s
10	Timotheou C. / Laos Pambos	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	+6m42.9s
11	Raoux J. / Magat Laurent	Renault Clio R3	+7m21.7s
12	Loucaides Doros / Laos Savvas	Peugeot 207 S2000	+7m33.9s
13	Albertini S. / Scattolin S.	Renault Clio R3	+8m19.7s
14	Hunt Harry / Durant Robbie	Citroën DS3 R3T	+8m25.0s
15	Yiangou P. / Christofi L.	Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX	+8m28.7s