SS6: Mikkelsen starts day two in style

Andreas Mikkelsen has made a strong start to day two of Rally San Marino by winning the opening 6.82-kilometre Monte Benedetto test in his ŠKODA UK Motorsport Fabia Super 2000.

Despite reporting having to sweep away some loose surface gravel by running first on the road, Mikkelsen has extended his lead over M-Sport Ford Fiesta RRC driver Giandomenico Basso to 9.2s.

Mikkelsen, who is using a replacement gearbox fitted as a precaution in service in San Marino this morning, said: “It was a good stage with no problems. The road was cleaning a bit but it was a clean run. We had soft tyres and I have some work to do on the car.”

Basso began day two 4.1s behind Mikkelsen but said a lacking of “feeling” resulted in him dropping a few precious seconds to the charging Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion. He was 5.1s slower than Mikkelsen. “It was not a good feeling, very slippery because of the rain from yesterday,” said Basso, who has selected a medium compound tyre.

Umberto Scandola was third quickest, 8.9s behind Mikkelsen for ŠKODA Italia. He said: “The engine is okay today but the stage was very slippery. We need to go very fast today.”

Germain Bonnefis continues to make up ground following his extensive time loss on stage one by setting the fourth quickest time in his Peugeot Sport 207 Super 2000. The young French driver was 11.1s down on Mikkelsen.

Sepp Wiegand was fifth fastest, 11.2s adrift of Mikkelsen in his ŠKODA Auto Deutschland Fabia. “I lost one or two seconds to Scandola but it’s better to finish fourth than not to finish,” said the 21-year-old.

Jarkko Nikara continues to lead the IRC Production Cup in fifth overall despite reporting the brakes on his near-standard-specification Subaru Impreza losing performance on the downhill sections. He was eighth quickest.

Fellow Finn Juha Salo, who blamed losing position to Nikara on the San Marino stage last night on his decision to adopt an extremely cautious strategy, was seventh fastest behind the Swiss Laurent Reuche.