SS5: Mikkelsen fastest on superspecial

Local hero Valentin Porcisteanu caused a shock when he equalled Andreas Mikkelsen’s time through the Sibiu Rally’s 1.90-kilometre Superspecial test on the outskirts of host city this evening.

Mikkelsen, the defending Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion and rally leader, took 1m45.5s to complete the spectator stage to make it five stage wins out of five in his ŠKODA UK Motorsport Fabia Super 2000, only for Porcisteanu, in a Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X to set an identical time.

And there was more good news for Romanian crews when Marco Tempestini and Dorin Pulpea went third quickest, 1.1s slower than Mikkelsen, whose overall advantage stands at 1m58.8s heading to the two night stages. “I know this stage very well,” said Tempestini, the winner in Sibiu last season.

Bogdan Marisca was fourth quickest with Patrik Flodin next up in his Petter Solberg Engineering M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000, 0.1s faster than Sepp Wiegand in a ŠKODA Auto Deutschland Fabia, who complained of dust clouds again affecting his vision. Vlad Cosma impressed as the leading IRC 2WD Cup contender with the seventh best time.

Michaël Burri, in a Peugeot 207 Super 2000, and Honda Civic Type R driver Martin Kangur were both forced to start the stage with a punctured tyre after using both of their spares on early stages.