SS9: Mikkelsen digs in

Andreas Mikkelsen began the second leg of the Canon Mecsek Rallye with a vigorous defence of his overnight lead, posting the quickest time of all over the opening 12km Zobák stage.

The ŠKODA UK Motorsport driver’s time of 6m51.2s eclipsed that of team-mate Jan Kopecký by 6.9s. His closest challenger was Peugeot’s Thierry Neuville, currently third place overall, who was just 1.3s off Mikkelsen’s pace.

"That was a good stage," said Mikkelsen. "It has been cleaned since yesterday and there is less gravel than we expected. It was still slippery, but I’m happy with how I drove."

"I was quite surprised," said Kopecký. "I was expecting lots of gravel so I was going too carefully to start with."

"Not bad for the first stage of the day," said Neuville. "When we look back on this stage yesterday we were too slow on both runs, this time was better. On the next stage we will push a bit more."

Freddy Loix matched Kopecký’s time in the BFO Fabia S2000, but expressed frustration at not being able to get back on terms with the leaders: "At the moment I can’t go quicker, but it was better than yesterday."

As the drivers running first on the road indulged in as much cutting as they dared, inevitably gravel was dragged onto the road surface and the competitors running behind found themselves at a disadvantage.

Bryan Bouffier was fifth quickest for Peugeot France but found the going tough, and was 10.2s off Mikkelsen’s benchmark: "The other guys are quicker for sure. The stage is getting dirty again. Maybe it was cleaner but now it’s going to be a bit more dirty."

Local entrant György Aschenbrenner continued his remarkable run in the Ralliart Lancer, though he described his run through SS9 as, "Not bad, but also not good." He is now under pressure from Róbert Bútor in a Peugeot 207 S2000.

Hermann Gassner Jnr reported gearbox problems in his Red Bull ŠKODA but still posted a competitive time of 7m04.2s. He has a buffer of 37s over Peugeot’s Bruno Magalhães, who re-entered the top 10 as a result of 10th-placed Norbert Herczig crashing out on the stage.