Mikkelsen beats Ostberg to Mountain win

16th January 2012

Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion Andreas Mikkelsen got his 2012 season off to a winning start by beating World Rally star and Norwegian compatriot Mads Ostberg in last weekend's Mountain Rally - round one of their domestic series.

Driving his regular Skoda Fabia S2000, Mikkelsen emerged in front by 7.2 seconds over Ostberg, who was at the wheel of Ford's Regional Rally Car Fiesta.

"It's a long time since I've driven on snow and ice and having been away for two years it was great to rally in Norway again," said Mikkelsen.

"We had to drive fast to beat Mads and even though we were here to test, competing against such a good driver meant we really had to focus on our driving – so it was a very good test situation for us."

Mikkelsen will also contest next month's Rally Finnskog before his first WRC outing of the season as part of Volkswagen's junior programme in Sweden a week later, and the 2012 IRC opener in the Azores at the end of the month.