Mikkelsen: “I have to attack from the start”

Andreas Mikkelsen prepares to compete in his first event in WRC with the colors of Hyundai Motorsport by facing this week the Rally of Catalonia (Spain) which offers a dirt and asphalt course. The former Volkswagen driver, who competed in several rallies with Citroën Racing this season, is taking on a new challenge after securing a two-year contract with the Korean manufacturer.

The German-Asian team chose to immediately hire Andreas Mikkelsen for the final races of the season, not only to prepare him for the 2018 season, but also to optimize its title chances in the Manufacturers' standings where Hyundai Motorsport is lagging behind by 64 points on M-Sport three rounds from the end of the season.

“We must secure the double in the last three events, recognizes Andreas Mikkelsen, aware of the difficulty of the situation. It's quite difficult for me because I want to get used to the car. It's one thing to do tests where you know the stages and the roads by remembering the bumps and so on. But it's time and I don't have much of it. I have to attack from the start by being in the rhythm from the first stage even if I don't know the car well yet. »

If Andreas Mikkelsen has been able to get used to the new WRCs with his commitments in the Citroën C3 WRC, with which he notably won second place in the German Rally, he has not yet benefited from much driving in the Hyundai i20 WRC.

“I did two days of testing on asphalt, one day on dirt and two more days on dirt with the R5, specifies Andreas Mikkelsen. It was quite intensive. One of the most difficult settings to manage is having to use Hayden Paddon's differential settings. His driving style is quite different from mine and the set-up is therefore not perfect. Things should go better for Wales Rally GB (October 26 to 29) and Australia (November 16 to 19). »

If Andreas Mikkelsen had retired during the last edition of the Rally of Catalonia, he already won the Spanish event in 2015.