SS8: Wiegand ends Mikkelsen’s run of stage wins

Sepp Wiegand has ended Andreas Mikkelsen’s run of stage wins on the Sibiu Rally by going fastest on Saturday’s opening run, the Gâtu Berbecului test.

Wiegand, in a ŠKODA Auto Deutschland Fabia Super 2000, took 19m47.0s to complete the 28.50-kilometre run, 10.7s faster than runaway event leader and defending Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Mikkelsen, who is carrying two spare tyres and adopting a more cautious approach in his ŠKODA UK-backed entry. Wiegand’s stage win was his second since joining the IRC at the start of the season.

François Delecour began day two with hopes of catching second-placed Wiegand but lost ground to the German by going 41.8s slower through the run in his Munaretto Sport Peugeot 207 Super 2000. Patrik Flodin impressed with the second fastest time in his Hankook Petter Solberg Engineering M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 to climb from sixth to fourth in the overall classification.

Romanian hero and IRC Production Cup leader Valentin Porcisteanu has demoted Gergély Szabó for what is now fifth place after the Hungarian suffered a significant time loss in his Fabia. Marco Tempestini has moved ahead of Vitaliy Pushkar into seventh overall.