Skoda UK's Andreas Mikkelsen scored a comfortable win at the weekend as he used Corsican regional event the Ronde de la Giraglia as a warm-up for the Intercontinental Rally Challenge's forthcoming asphalt rounds.
The Norwegian's IRC title bid got off to a bad start when he crashed out on the opening round in Monte Carlo in January. With the IRC's next four rounds in Spain, Corsica, Ukraine and Ypres all asphalt events, Mikkelsen said contesting the national-level rally had restored his confidence ahead of the championship resuming next month with 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," said Mikkelsen. "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."