Corsica win for RallyScotland runner-upposted in RSCOT07 | 03 | 2011

RALLYSCOTLAND RUNNER-UP Andreas Mikkelsen (pictured) warmed up for the next four tarmac rounds of the Intercontinental Rally Championship by winning in Corsica at the weekend.

Mikkelsen, who crashed out in his Skoda on the opening round of this year's IRC in Monte Carlo in January, used the Corsican regional event — the Ronde de la Giraglia — essentially to get his confidence back.

The next four rounds of the IRC — in Spain, Corsica, Ukraine and Ypres — are all on tarmac and the Norwegian admitted he's now ready to challenge for the win in the next round, the Rally Islas Canarias.

"The main purpose of this rally was to do some miles as part of our preparation for Gran Canarias, and for us it was really good training in an environment which was a proper rally, not only testing," Mikkelsen, who finished just behind Juho Hanninen in last year's RallyScotland, explained.

"With the stages here in Corsica repeated, we could gradually increase our speed without taking any risks because we got to know the roads so well.

"We started this event at a normal pace and by the last stage we were pushing quite a bit and the feeling is fantastic with the Fabia S2000 now. It's been a really good rally and I feel like we are back where we should be."

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Jim McGill