Highest placed finisher for the troubled Citroen team in Sardinia was Andreas Mikkelsen, for whom initially this drive was on a once-off basis, for which he only had one pre-rally test day, but had only hopes that it could lead further for him in that team.
Andreas Mikkelsen will drive for Citroen in Poland after a good C3 debut.He was under instructions to take things as they came and settle into the C3 rather than try to prove his expertise.
He said “It was going better and better. We were making changes all the time. In the beginning I tried to adjust my driving to suit the car, but in the end I felt confident in my driving style. It is the correct way after driving the Polo and the Hyundai.
“The Citroen is more similar to my style so instead of trying to adapt too much to the car I tried to adapt the car to my driving style. We were taking steps by steps but it is hard to do new things in a rally.
“You need a proper test and really to try to develop things there. You are very limited to what you can change on a rally because a lot of components are linked together or you cannot change because of the regulations.
“I am sure the car has potential to be very much faster than it is at the moment. It’s been great, I’m practising my French all the time.
“The Citroen team are very welcoming and we felt very much at home. Amazing food by the way …”.
Soon after the event, Mikkelsen was offered a second drive in the Citroen team, and he will now replace Kris Meeke at Rally Poland.
- Martin Holmes