Mikkelsen extends IRC lead with 2nd place result on the Rally Islas Canarias

Skoda UK Motorsport’s Andreas Mikkelsen has extended his lead in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, after finishing 2nd on the Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglees.

Co-driven by Ola Floene, the IRC champion enjoyed an incredibly close battle with Jan Kopecky
(Skoda Motorsport), as the two factory-prepared Fabia S2000 drivers set the fastest time on all 15 special stages. Despite driving flat out for more than two hours over the fast and twisty asphalt mountain roads high above the host town of Las Palmas, the gap between the leading two drivers was never more than 5.1 seconds – until an engine misfire on the final stage settled the battle in Kopecky’s favour. Andreas lost over 30 seconds on the final test and dropped to 2nd place – although the Skoda duo were still over three minutes ahead of the rest of the field.

The 1-2 result sees Skoda score maximum points for the second time this year, increasing its lead at the top of the IRC Manufacturers’ table.

Andreas had identified the Canary Island-based event as one of the most difficult IRC rounds to win, yet, running as car number 1 for the first time in his IRC career, he began by setting fastest time on the opening three stages. After the loop of stages had been repeated, his advantage was 5.1 seconds.

Andreas went into the overnight halt 1.2 seconds behind Kopecky, but regained the lead on Leg 2’s opening stage. A further two fastest times re-established a 4.4 second advantage, before Kopecky fought back on SS13 and 14. Kopecky was just 0.1 seconds quicker on the penultimate stage, despite Andreas running with a misfire for the last 3 km. He and Ola attempted to diagnose the fault before entering the final stage, but had to complete all 16.12 km with a misfire, costing them all hopes of victory. At the final service, the Skoda UK Motorsport engineers discovered the problem was a broken injector connector.

Andreas said, “The whole team did such a fantastic job on this rally, so we are very unlucky to pick up a misfire so close to the finish. To finish second and score eighteen points is of course good, but I really wanted to win this rally and so did the team. I improved my driving on Tarmac a lot last year and also during this event, and whilst I’m really disappointed not to have scored my first IRC win on Tarmac here in Gran Canaria, I promise to come back stronger. Hopefully the Circuit of Ireland will be a good rally for us.”

The next round of the IRC is Skoda UK Motorsport’s home event, the Donnelly Group Circuit of Ireland Rally (6-7 April).

Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Ingles – top 10 results (provisional after SS15)
1. Jan Kopecky/Pavel Dresler (Skoda Fabia S2000)….2 hrs 21 mins 46.5 secs
2. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Skoda Fabia S2000)….+28.3 secs
3. Luis Monzon/Jose C. Deniz (Peugeot 207 S2000)….+3 mins 13.6 secs
4. Sepp Wiegand/Timo Gottschalk (Skoda Fabia S2000)….+4 mins 32.0 secs
5. Jonathan Perez/Enrique Velasco (Peugeot 207 S2000)….+7 mins 00.3 secs
6. Joan Vinyes/Jordi Mercader (Suzuki Swift S1600)….+9 mins 00.3 secs
7. Gorka Antxustegi/Gabriel Suarez (Suzuki Swift)….+9 mins 18.9 secs
8. Angel Marrero/Victor Marrero (Honda Civic Type R)….11 mins 27.4 secs
9. János Puskadi/Barna Godor (Skoda Fabia S2000)….+12 mins 03.3 secs
10. Rashid Al Ketbi/ Khalid Al Kendi (Skoda Fabia S2000)….+14 mins 43.2 secs

IRC points (after Round 2)
Drivers’
1. Andreas Mikkelsen….43 pts
2. Jan Kopecky…25 pts
3. Sepp Wiegand….24 pts
4. Juho Hanninen….18 pts
5. Bryan Bouffier….15 pts
6. Luis Monzon…15 pts

Manufacturers’
1. Skoda….86 pts
2. Peugeot….42 pts
3. Honda….18 pts
4. M-Sport….16 pts

Posted in: Andreas Mikkelsen,Fabia S2000,Jan Kopecky,Motor Sports,Ola Floene,Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Ingles,Skoda,Skoda Motorsport,Skoda UK Motorsport