SWRC : Mikkelsen upstages title fight

Andreas Mikkelsen has upstaged the fight for the inaugural Super 2000 World Rally Championship crown on Wales Rally GB by topping his class on all but one of the opening day’s seven stages.

Mikkelsen, who is using the entry normally occupied by the absent Martin Prokop, was fastest on Thursday night’s all-asphalt stage in Cardiff Bay and maintained his edge throughout the six gravel-based stages that made up Friday’s action to hold a 32.8-second advantage heading into day two.

“The last rally I did in Cyprus was with a different tyre and in a different car so I have been getting used to some new things today,” said Mikkelsen, who is driving a Skoda Fabia S2000. “It has not been easy today in the conditions and keeping the car in the line has been difficult.”

Behind Mikkelsen, the three-way scrap for the S-WRC title between Xevi Pons, Jari Ketomaa and Patrik Sandell, was turned on its head when Sandell’s Skoda suffered powersteering failure on stage five. With no opportunity to repair the fault, the Swede was forced to soldier through two more stages and has dropped to seventh overall as a result, more than five minutes adrift of Mikkelsen.

Ketomaa is second overnight in his Shanghai FCACA Rally Team Ford Fiesta S2000 after reporting traction problems in the morning. The Finn is driving a replacement Fiesta with a new gearbox and engine to give him the best possible chance of becoming S-WRC champion.

However, if the positions remain unchanged then Ketomaa will miss out on the laurels by a single point from Pons, who is fourth overall following a torrid day in his Fiesta. “I am not happy because I have been driving as fast as possible but the time is not there,” said the Spaniard.

Eyvind Brynildsen is third overall in his Skoda despite complaining his car’s set-up was awry in the morning. “We went the wrong way with the settings,” said the Norwegian. “The car was understeering into the corner then getting big sideways on the exit. It’s a risk to push harder.”

Behind Pons, rising Irish star Craig Breen recovered from a scare following stage four when his car filled with toxic fumes and the spare wheel caught fire in a bizarre incident heading to the remote service halt in Builth Wells. He holds fifth overall.

Michal Kosciuszko was fifth overall after the first Sweet Lamb test but slipped back when he inflicted damage to the left-rear of his car seven kilometres from the end of Myherin. With remote service regulations restricting the amount of work a team can do to a car, the Polish driver was unable to attack in the afternoon and is more than five minutes off the pace.

Bernardo Sousa completed Thursday’s Cardiff Bay stage with the eighth fastest time but withdrew his Fiesta in order to head to his native Portugal where he is contesting the final round of the national championship. The Madeira-born driver is using the event to celebrate winning the title for the first time in his Fiesta. Albert Llovera withdrew before the start for medical reasons.