Rally Sweden: Second WRC2 victory in a row for ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo driver Andreas Mikkelsen
Andreas Mikkelsen started the championship’s only real winter rally cautiously. “I try not to take any risks – it’s too early to go straight out and it’s very easy to make a mistake. We try to be smart and drive at a good pace, he said after the initial stages. But the reigning WRC2- The champion from Norway soon realized that “not taking any risk” would mean waving goodbye to all hopes of winning the category. Consequently, the crew of the ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo changed their strategy and increased the pace. And it worked. Eriksen conquered the category lead with a lead of 4.1 seconds over the Norwegians Ole Christian Veiby / Stig Rune Skjærmoen.
Mikkelsen’s Toksport WRT teammates Nikolay Gryazin / Konstantin Aleksandrov followed in third place and then led the WRC2 Juniors classification. They defended that position until Sunday morning. But during the penultimate stage, their ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo ended up in a snowdrift. Similar incidents cost the Finnish rally champions Emil Lindholm / Reeta Hämäläinen and the South Americans Marco Bulacia / Marcelo der Ohannesian (BOL / ARG), both crews driving Toksport WRT driving the ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, all chances for a top result.
Meanwhile, Mikkelsen / Eriksen and Veiby / Skjærmoen continued their battle for the WRC2 victory. Mikkelsen even had to give P1 to Veiby for a stage on Saturday. But in the next test, he restored order. Only during the last stage on Sunday did the duel seem to be decided. Mikkelsen / Eriksen extended their lead and eventually won by 23.2 seconds. “It has been one of my best matches. Ole Christian has done a great rally. I know he has worked super hard for the last twelve months, so I am really happy that he comes here and delivers such a good result”, was Mikkelsen was full of praise for his opponent, yet, with the second WRC2 victory in as many rallies, his project title defense could not get off to a better start.
While WRC2 regular Marco Bulacia experienced bad luck, his 19-year-old brother Bruno fully enjoyed his first WRC event. Navigated by experienced Marc Martí from Spain, former co-driver of Carlos Sainz and Dani Sordo, Bulacia finished his Toksport WRT driving ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo at WRC2 position nine.
After ice and snow-covered roads during Rallye Monte-Carlo and Rally Sweden, the FIA World Rally Championship turns into pure asphalt. Next on the calendar is Rally Croatia (April 21-24, 2022).
Result Rally Sweden (WRC2)
1. | Mikkelsen / Eriksen (N / N), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo | 2: 17: 56.0 hours. |
2. | Veiby / Skjærmoen (N / N), VW Polo GTI Rally2 | +23.2 |
3. | Huttunen / Lukka (FIN / FIN), Ford Fiesta Mk2 Rally2 | +1: 03.1 |
4. | Kaur / Simm (EST / EST), VW Polo GTI Rally2 | +1: 13.7 |
5. | Linnamäe / Morgan (EST / GB), VW Polo GTI Rally2 | +1: 24.9 |
6. | Pietarinen / Linnaketo (FIN / FIN), VW Polo GTI Rally2 | +1: 42.7 |
Number of rallies: 0.8
The duel between the ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo crew Andreas Mikkelsen / Torstein Eriksen and Ole Christian Veiby / Stig Rune Skjærmoen was extremely close. After stage 10, the two Norwegian duos separated by only 0.8 seconds.
FIA World Rally Championship 2022
Monte-Carlo Rally | January 20 – 23 |
Rally Sweden | February 24-27 |
Rally Croatia | April 21 – 24 |
Rally Portugal | 19 – 22 May |
Rally Italy Sardinia | June 2-5 |
Safari Rally Kenya | 23 – 26 June |
Rally Estonia | 14 – 17 July |
Rally Finland | 4 – 7 August |
Ypres Rally (Belgium) | 18 – 21 August |
Acropolis Rally Greece | September 8 – 11 |
New Zealand Rally | September 29 – October 2 |
RallyRACC Rally de España | October 20 – 23 |
Rally Japan | November 10 – 13 |