French rallying legend François Delecour has praised Andreas Mikkelsen after the Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion set his third fastest stage time to extend his lead of the Sibiu Rally to 1m09.6s.
Mikkelsen, driving for ŠKODA UK Motorsport, covered the second running of the 7.30-kilometre Dobârca stage in a time of 4m07.9s, 4.5s quicker than Delecour, a winner of four world championship rallies in the past. “Mikkelsen is very fast, his time is absolutely incredible,” said Delecour, who was third quickest.
Norwegian Mikkelsen reported changes to his car’s differential settings in service had made his Fabia more nervous at high speed but had cured the understeer he was experiencing on slow corners. The 23-year-old has also switched to the hard compound Michelin tyre. “That was a smart move because the road feels much more beaten up now,” he said.
Patrik Flodin was second quickest for the Hankook PS Engineering team but once again the Swede wasn’t entirely happy with the handling of his M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000.
Sepp Wiegand was fourth fastest with Gergély Szabó fifth quickest to maintain his grip on second place in the overall standings in his Eurosol Racing Team Fabia.
Michaël Burri completed the stage with a front-right puncture on his Saintéloc Racing Peugeot 207 Super 2000 two kilometres from the stage start.