Hankook’s Mikkelsen to Build on Scottish 2nd in IRC Final Round
Hankook says it is ready to round off its Intercontinental Rally Challenge campaign in style with driver Andreas Mikkelsen when Cyprus hosts the final round this weekend. The Norwegian finished second overall in the recent Rally of Scotland and is hoping to be back on the podium on the FXPro Cyprus Rally which gets underway on Thursday. Mikkelsen and co-driver Ole Fløene will once again be in the Hankook Ford Fiesta S2000 – the M-Sport prepared car the team has used during its 2010 programme of events.
Hankook UK motorsport manager Mike Patterson, who is responsible for the IRC programme, said the team was in a confident mood following the second overall in Scotland. “The whole team has worked hard this season and Scotland was a tremendous achievement so early in the development of the car and tyre package,’’ said Patterson. “The car ran faultlessly and the Hankook tyres coped with some of the toughest and roughest rally stages in the world – a perfect warm up for the conditions the crews will experience in Cyprus.’’
Both gravel and asphalt surfaces make the Cyprus rally extremely demanding and Patterson said that the right tyre choice will be particularly crucial as the cars compete on some of the most technical stages in the championship. The Cyprus Rally is the final of seven selected IRC rounds Mikkelsen has been contesting this year in the Hankook Ford Fiesta S2000.
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