Volkswagen junior driver Andreas Mikkelsen has expressed his
satisfaction after finishing sixth on Rally Australia and has given
stand-in co-driver, Paul Nagle top marks following their first event
together.
Mikkelsen led initially in Oz following Thursday night's short super specials, and while he dropped back on the Friday and had two scares on both runs through Newry, he remained in the top-seven throughout.
The Norwegian may have taken fifth too, had he not been instructed to take it easy on the final day and not get involved in a scrap with Mads Ostberg, who was 2.6secs adrift at the end of Saturday's tests.
“Rally Australia had its ups and downs for me,” Mikkelsen said after round ten in the 2013 World Rally Championship.
“On Thursday, I had a chance to savour the feeling of leading in a World Championship rally for the first time. Friday got off to a great start, but little mistakes cost us a lot of time.
“I had to pay for them again on Saturday as one of the first World Rally Cars on the track. And Sunday? I did all I could to get the car over the line and help the team in the Manufacturer's Championship. That meant going into 'cruise mode' and not going on the attack. I'm sure it would have been more fun if we'd done things differently.”
“All in all, we're really pleased with sixth place though,” added the two-time Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion.
“It was a good debut at the Rally Australia for us, and it was great working with my co-driver Paul Nagle, who stepped in for my usual partner Mikko Markkula at short notice. Paul and I had a good weekend. [Overall] it's been a fantastic and a big learning curve.”
Mikkelsen led initially in Oz following Thursday night's short super specials, and while he dropped back on the Friday and had two scares on both runs through Newry, he remained in the top-seven throughout.
The Norwegian may have taken fifth too, had he not been instructed to take it easy on the final day and not get involved in a scrap with Mads Ostberg, who was 2.6secs adrift at the end of Saturday's tests.
“Rally Australia had its ups and downs for me,” Mikkelsen said after round ten in the 2013 World Rally Championship.
“On Thursday, I had a chance to savour the feeling of leading in a World Championship rally for the first time. Friday got off to a great start, but little mistakes cost us a lot of time.
“I had to pay for them again on Saturday as one of the first World Rally Cars on the track. And Sunday? I did all I could to get the car over the line and help the team in the Manufacturer's Championship. That meant going into 'cruise mode' and not going on the attack. I'm sure it would have been more fun if we'd done things differently.”
“All in all, we're really pleased with sixth place though,” added the two-time Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion.
“It was a good debut at the Rally Australia for us, and it was great working with my co-driver Paul Nagle, who stepped in for my usual partner Mikko Markkula at short notice. Paul and I had a good weekend. [Overall] it's been a fantastic and a big learning curve.”
Source: Crash. net
