Volkswagen registers second team for Mikkelsen

When Andreas Mikkelsen makes his Volkswagen debut on next month’s Rally Portugal he will do so as part of a new one-car manufacturer team.

The FIA announced today that Volkswagen had registered the new squad that will be called Volkswagen Motorsport II.

Mikkelsen, 23, is scheduled to drive a Polo R on every round of this year’s WRC from Portugal onwards. By running as part of a manufacturer team, the Norwegian will be eligible to score points in the manufacturers’ championship as well as the drivers’ championship.

Volkswagen’s team manager Sven Smeets explained that running Mikkelsen’s car in a separate team, rather than as a third car, would also have testing and logistical benefits.

“The third car was always planned to come, and we chose to have a one-car team in order to give Andreas his fair amount of test days and not to have to share them with our other drivers,” he said.

“Also we are a manufacturer, so in order to have the proper space in the service park the complete package for a one-car WRC team was much more interesting to us.”