SS6: Al-Attiyah not concerned by Mikkelsen speed

Nasser Al-Attiyah says he’s not worried about Andreas Mikkelsen’s pace on the Cyprus Rally, despite the Norwegian making it five stage wins out of six on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge event.

Mikkelsen, who dropped time stopping to change a puncture on stage two, was 3.6s quicker than Al-Attiyah through the 12.43-kilometre Salamiou test to narrow his Qatari rival’s advantage out front to 1m18.7s with one stage of the opening day remaining.

“I’m not too concerned about Andreas’ pace,” Al-Attiyah told reporter Colin Clark at the finish of stage six. “If we keep our pace we will win this rally.”

ŠKODA UK Motorsport driver Mikkelsen, meanwhile, says he’s pushing to the limit in an effort to catch Al-Attiyah’s Autotek Motorsport M-Sport Ford Fiesta RRC. He said: “I’m pushing to the limits, sometimes over the limits. The rocks are big but my car’s bigger.”

Elsewhere, Sepp Wiegand was third fastest for ŠKODA Auto Deutschland with Jarkko Nikara fourth quickest in his IRC Production Cup-chasing Subaru Impreza R4 STI, just four-tenths up on Tommi Mäkinen Racing team-mate Toshi Arai.

“I’m feeling better this afternoon but when I look at the times it’s not good,” said Wiegand. “I’m a long way from the top boys.”