Photo Credit: Volkswagen Motorsport It's finally happened. Three time World Rally winner Andreas Mikkelsen has got his first competitive chance of driving a 2017 spec World Rally Car, competing for Citroen Racing on round seven of the championship in Sardinia. In this one-off drive, the Norwegian will replace Stephane Lefebvre to partner Kris Meeke and Craig Breen in a C3 WRC.
Mikkelsen has been actively and openly looking for a drive this season to keep himself match fit for a title assault in 2018, and with this deal to drive on the Mediterranean island, this is looking more probable by the minute. But how did Andreas end up in this situation, and what does this mean for 2017? Volkswagen rocked the WRC with their shock departure from the sport following the penultimate round of the 2016 season in Wales. That left its three drivers Sebastien Ogier, Jari-Matti Latvala and Andreas Mikkelsen all without a drive for the following season with just Rally Australia to convince rival teams they were worthy of employment. Ogier held all the cards in the driver market as four times World Champion, but it was Andreas who won the final rally for VW ahead of Ogier with Latvala having another disappointing weekend. Surely then with Ogier heading to M-Sport, the vacant seat at Toyota would go the way of rally winner Mikkelsen? You'd be wrong. Latvala signed for Tommi Makinen's squad and it proved to be a revelation for both team and driver. That left Mikkelsen on the sidelines, but dominant performances in a Skoda Fabia R5 in WRC2 and lacklustre drives from some of those in a WRC car have finally seen the Even Management client land a drive in a top team, but it's important to stress for the time being at least, this is a one-off. The clever money was on either M-Sport or Toyota to land Mikkelsen before the start of the 2017 season. Toyota as mentioned above had a seat to fill that was looking to be Esapekka Lappi's before Volkswagen's bombshell. The DMACK Fiesta drive was also free, but that deservedly went the way of British Rally Champion and WRC2 podium finisher Elfyn Evans after a sabbatical from the sport's top level. The same fate was now facing Mikkelsen, and it appears to be the other two WRC teams that are close to getting him on a long term deal. Andreas tested Hyundai's i20 Coupe WRC last month causing a rife of speculation but it would appear that there is no permanent agreement in place, not that we know of anyway. Citroen have stolen the march in bringing him in for Sardinia, and in all honesty they are the team that need him the most. Toyota wouldn't exactly not benefit from Mikkelsen joining, but Citroen are the manufacturer who currently sit last in the standings and were expected to be top of the tree after sitting out 2016 in order to focus solely on the development of the C3 WRC. For whatever reason it hasn't quite worked out so far in 2017 despite a Meeke win in Mexico and some impressive drives from Breen. It is the team's worst performing driver Lefebvre that steps down, a decision the man himself accepts "is in the best interest of the team." Despite being the unlucky one in not finding a drive for 2017, Mikkelsen is arguably in a very enviable position, such is the demand for his services. The only team he would arguably not improve by walking straight in is Hyundai with the German/Korean outfit finding the perfect balance and set-up with their driver line up. All teams will be monitoring Mikkelsen's performance in Sardinia as they look ahead to 2018 as Andreas will be a major coup for both the drivers and manufacturers titles next season. However obviously important Sardinia is for Citroen Racing, it is even more crucial for the Scandinavian behind the wheel. He has proved over the last few years and this season in an R5 that he is a front-running contender on all surfaces; now is his chance to deliver on the main stage. He will be forgiven for taking time to get up to speed, but remember the last time the chips were down and Mikkelsen had to deliver? He won Australia in commanding fashion. For now this deal remains a one-off drive, but this for me almost certainly guarantees Mikkelsen will be out there in 2018 and maybe even later this season. If he and Even Management are clever, due to the fact he is not contracted to anyone, they should try and secure a test in a Fiesta and in a Yaris which would mean Mikkelsen has sampled all four cars and in theory would therefore know the best place to be for 2018. Providing everybody wants to sign him of course. It could well turn out that Mikkelsen's disadvantage may turn into an advantage. But let's all hope he can nail it in Sardinia, as we all want to see the world's best drivers in the world's best cars.
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January 2018
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