Mikkelsen last competed in June at the gravel rally in Poland, where he finished sixth. This season, however, Mikkelsen has been recruited as Hyundai’s tarmac specialist, driving the third Rally1 car at both Monte Carlo and Croatia.
The early season tarmac rallies didn’t go well for Mikkelsen in terms of pace. Although he finished both events, the gaps to the leaders were substantial. This time, he’s aiming for better results.
“I’m really looking forward to the rally because I will have a pretty different approach compared to Monte Carlo and Croatia. At that time, the car was still quite new for me so there were still things to get used to,” Mikkelsen says.
“I will have that new approach in Central European Rally, go there and give a good result to help the team maintain its lead in the drivers’ and manufacturers’ championships.”
Mikkelsen has fond memories from last year’s Central European asphalt rally, even though he competed in a lower category at the time. Despite retiring once, he secured his WRC-2 class championship in the event.
“I remember Central European Rally very well from last year, it’s the rally where we ended up clinching the WRC2 title. Overall, I would say it is a difficult rally because there’s so much gravel and mud being pulled out from the road,” Mikkelsen recalls.
“The conditions are very demanding; there’s a lot of cutting going on and very easy to make a mistake.”
The Central European Rally kicks off with a shakedown near Prague on Thursday morning. In the afternoon, there will be a Super Special stage in Prague, followed by the first forest stage in Klatovy that evening.
The rally will feature a total of 18 stages, covering just over 300 kilometers.
