Mikkelsens big weekend

17 year old rising star Andreas Mikkelsen, driving car number 17 in Rally Norway,  has only the top class drivers in front of him.   After Saturday morning’s service, the top ten is within sniffing distance.

”We’ve started watching our mirrors,” said Petter Solberg in the post-shakedown press conference on Thursday.
”It was a great day for us.  We have no complaints and are pleased with our position,” said Andreas Mikkelsen when he and co-driver Ola Fløene parked his Ford Focus for the evening on Friday.

They were in fifteenth place and in Saturday morning’s extremely difficult conditions, they have climbed to twelfth, even though they are first on the road for every stage in today’s start list, and can sometimes therefore be fulfilling a “snow plough” role for the other cars!
Andreas, a former competitive downhill skier, is driving on a special dispensation and Rally Norway is the first Norwegian event where he is permitted to drive the road sections.  Thus far he has had to swap seats and let co-driver Fløene take the wheel to get from stage to stage because in Norway the minimum legal age for driving is 18 and Andreas’s British driving license is invalid here until he reaches that age.  This weekend is the first time Andreas has driven legally on the right hand side of the road …

Rally Norway is Mikkelsen’s third rally in Norway and his second winter rally.  

“This is the first time I’ve had a free rein here at home and it’s a real milestone for me!” he says.