Another record for Mikkelsen

One week after he became the youngest driver ever to win points in the WRC, Andreas Mikkelsen broke another record as the youngest driver to win a round of the Norwegian Rally Championship.

The 18-year-old Norwegian and his co-driver Ola Floene won the KNA Rally Finnskog, the second of the seven round series, beating another WRC rising star, Mads Ostberg and ending Ostberg’s winning streak of nine consecutive rallies in his national championship.

The event took place near the Swedish border, not far from the base of the Swedish Rally, and was a hard fight between the two young rivals, each of which is looking to emulate the success of Norway’s 2003 World Champion, Petter Solberg.

Punctures have played their part in Ostberg-Mikkelsen duels so far this year with Mikkelsen losing the lead to Ostberg after a puncture in January’s first round - the Mountain Rally. On round two, however, it was Ostberg who had to stop and change a wheel on the penultimate stage, allowing Mikkelsen to cruise to the finish with a lead of 2min 10sec over second placed Anders Grondal.