Andreas Mikkelsen says that his WRC2 programme of 2023 will depend on his results of the next two rallies, but hopes he will compete at least in six rounds.
The Norwegian driver started his 2023 campaign very late as his first event was Rally de Portugal two months ago while his second outing with the brand-new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 came in Sardinia where he took the win at the end of Powerstage as the rally leader Adrien Fourmaux went off the road on that stage. As Mikkelsen stated earlier this year, Hyundai was in discussions with him to drive the i20N Rally1 in 2023, but the negotiations failed as eventually Esapekka Lappi replaced Ott Tanak at the squad. This delay had as a result to Mikkelsen to lose his chance to renew his contract with Toksport and Skoda Motorsport as other drivers secured a drive with the Fabia RS Rally2, but eventually the Mikkelsen's manager managed to reach an agreement with them, therefore he started his WRC2 campaign from the fifth WRC round. Although Mikkelsen said at the end of Rally Sardinia that he would make an announcement about the rest of the season, it is yet to be confirmed if he will do a full championship, but he certainly will participate in Estonia and Finland
"Sardinia and Portugal were always in the plan", Mikkelsen said.
"Still I don’t know if I will do the full championship or not, but at least we’ve managed to do Estonia and Finland.
"It was a bit frustrating in Portugal with that puncture which put us out of place.
"OK I feel the win in Sardinia was handed a bit to us from Adrien, but at the end of the day I know that if I have a DNF for sure I will not do the full championship.
"I think what is realistic is that I try to do the championship doing six rounds and not seven like the other guys do – they can take away their worst result – so let’s see what’s possible.
"It depends on the results from the next rallies, of course".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: Toksport
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