Doing the double
Mikkelsen is the first to win back-to-back IRC titles
ŠKODA UK Motorsport's Andreas Mikkelsen has become the first driver to successfully defend his Intercontinental Rally Challenge title, after finishing 2nd on the final round, the Cyprus Rally, in his Fabia S2000. Partnered by Ola Fløene, who retains the co-drivers' title, Andreas has won two rounds of this year's IRC, finished 2nd five times and recorded 58 stage wins. More impressively, over the 2011 and 2012 IRC seasons, Andreas has recorded an impressive 99 stage victories!
ŠKODA has dominated this year's IRC, scoring 120 stage wins out of a possible 172 on its way to being crowned IRC Manufacturers' champions for the third consecutive year. Four different ŠKODA drivers — Mikkelsen, Juho Hänninen, Jan Kopecký and Dimitar Iliev — won IRC events in 2012, with ŠKODA drivers filling the final top four positions on the drivers' standings and the Fabia Super 2000 winning eight out of the 13 rounds in the championship..
Andreas: "These have been the best two years of my life in the IRC with ŠKODA UK Motorsport and it's an amazing feeling to be champion again. I have to thank ŠKODA for giving me the chance to return to international rallying and giving me the best available car to help me develop as a driver.
"We tried hard to win the Cyprus Rally and we really went for it, but three punctures cost us a lot of time. The mixed surface format and the hot and rough conditions were a real challenge, but it's been great fun to fight with Nasser and I'm really pleased with our performance."
Pierfrancesco Zanchi, ŠKODA UK Motorsport Team Principal: "It's been another great season. We started the year aiming to defend the title, which isn't an easy thing to do. We've had our ups and downs, but I have to say I think we've done a really good job. We are really happy to celebrate back-to-back drivers' titles with Andreas and to have played our part in helping ŠKODA win three manufacturer titles in a row."
