Andreas Mikkelsen has taken a staggering 21.3s out of Nasser Al-Attiyah in the battle for first place on the Cyprus Rally following what his ŠKODA UK Motorsport team described as a “flat-out” charge.
The defending Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion was fastest on Sunday’s opening stage, the mixed-surface 19.43-kilometre Prodromi run, and has narrowed Al-Attiyah’s advantage to 1m08.9s as a result with five stages remaining.
Despite high ambient and ground temperatures, Mikkelsen is using a combination of soft and hard Michelin tyres on his Fabia Super 2000 in a diagonal formation in a bid to up his speed, while Al-Attiyah has opted to run with hard compound tyres only on his Autotek Motorsport M-Sport Ford Fiesta RRC.
Both are carrying two spare tyres with Mikkelsen selecting two heavily scrubbed covers for the all-Tarmac Stavros stage later this morning.
Al-Attiyah, who is dropping precious seconds running at the head of the field over the loose-surface gravel, told Colin Clark at the stage finish: “It was very, very slippery and we try to manage the gap to Andreas. We had one big moment in a compression.”
Mikkelsen added: “I will give it everything to try and catch Nasser, that was one big push.”
Jarkko Nikara has demoted top Cypriot Savvas Savva for fourth overall in his Yokohama-shod Subaru Impreza R4 STI despite reporting a heavy hit through a compression. However, his Tommi Mäkinen Racing team-mate Toshi Arai continues to head the IRC Production Cup division by more than three minutes following Nikara’s delay on Saturday’s stage seven.