Andreas Mikkelsen holds the records for being the youngest driver to win a British national rally, score FIA World Rally Championship points and set a fastest stage time on a WRC event. In 2011 he celebrates his 22nd birthday, but he’s already driving rally cars for six years.
The young Norwegian has a broad background in sport. He competed in all disciplines in skiing and was a member of the Norwegian national junior alpine skiing team at the age of 12. In 2003 and 2004, he competed in motocross, also representing the national junior team.
A knee injury curtailed a promising ski career, and at 16-years old Andreas turned his attention to rallying. Too young to complete, he dedicated his time to learning the art of making and using pace notes with his co-driver Ola Fløene and begin rally driver training in 2005 – at the wheel of the Focus WRC!
Ola is a vastly experienced co-driver who had developed a detailed pace note system that is used by the 2003 World Rally Champion, and fellow countryman, Petter Solberg. This tried and tested system was the foundation of Andreas’ pace note training, and it’s the same system that he employs today.
There was still the not too insignificant matter of legally being able to drive on the public highway, and while in Norway you have to be at least 18-years old to attempt your driving test, in the UK the minimum age is 17. Without hesitation, Andreas moved to England and passed his driving test just a few days after his 17th birthday, and followed this by taking part in, and winning, the 2006 Quinton Stages Rally. Aged just 17 years and 16 days, he became the youngest ever winner of a British national rally. He also won the Coracle, Plains, Bulldog and Cambrian rallies in the UK in 2006, as well as the Saaremaa Rally in Estonia, and made his WRC debut on Wales Rally GB the same year.
In 2007 Andreas contested eight rounds of the WRC in a Focus WRC, scoring three top 10 finishes – 9th in Ireland and 10th in Norway and Portugal – and finishing 12th on Rally Finland. You couldn’t fault his commitment, as a spectacular televised crash on Epynt during Wales Rally GB testifies.
He also contested rounds of 2007 Irish Tarmac Rally Championship, finishing 3rd on the UAC Easter International Rally and International Rally of the Lakes and 5th on the Manx International Rally on the Isle of Man.
It was during the 2007 WRC season that Andreas got to know Marcus Grönholm. They got on well and when the double World Rally Champion announced his retirement at the end of the year, Andreas asked Grönholm if he’d consider using some of his new-found spare time to help him develop his driving technique.
During 2008, Grönholm drove, and sat next to, Andreas many times, teaching him the rally driving skills that took him to the world title in 2000 and 2002. Andreas took everything on board and there is a marked contrast in his driving style during this period.
It certainly helped with his results too, as Andreas become the youngest driver to ever score FIA World Rally Championship points when, aged 17 years and 233 days, he finished 5th on the 2008 Swedish Rally. Six months later, aged 18 years and 190 days, Andreas became the youngest driver to record a fastest special stage time on a round of the WRC, when he set joint fastest time (with Petter Solberg and Sébastien Loeb) on the final stage of Rallye Deutschland. He also finished 8th overall on the Rally de España, scoring more WRC points.
Also in 2008, Andreas won the Rally Finnskog (and in doing so became the youngest ever winner of a Norwegian Rally Championship event) and Rally Numedal.
The global financial recession put the brakes on Andreas’ rallying career. Having contested 15 rounds of the WRC in a Focus WRC in the last two years, scoring points and building up extensive experience, he was to contest just one WRC event over the next two years.
Erik Veiby, who as chairman of the Rally Norway board had been so instrumental in bringing the WRC to Norway, asked Andreas’ father if he could help, and so began a new partnership where Erik looks after Andreas’ rally interests. As manager, Erik was aware of the slight jealousy some felt towards Andreas’ ability to drive a Focus WRC at such a young age, but Erik could only see his talent. It was time to put Andreas head-to-head with is adversaries in identical cars.
It was a brilliant plan. In 2009, Andreas became Group N Norwegian Rally Champion, he dominated the Subaru Cup and scored outright victory on the Rally Costa Brava in Spain – silencing his critics and gaining even more fans with his skill, honesty and sportsmanship. His only WRC event that year, in a Škoda Fabia WRC owned by Erik, ended prematurely with engine problems on Rally Poland. There was some Škoda joy that year, when Andreas finished 3rd on Rally Bohemia in the Czech Republic, driving a Fabia S2000.
Having finished 2nd in S-WRC and 11th overall on the Swedish Rally, Andreas gained important IRC experience by contesting seven rounds of the series later in 2010, finishing in the points on four occasions. He came a close second to Juho Hänninen (Škoda) on the RACMSA Rally of Scotland, and won the inaugural Love Cyprus Golden Stage Rally in a Hankook-backed Ford Fiesta S2000.
Having rallied a Škoda Rally Team Italia Fabia S2000 on the Rallye de France (Round 11 of the 2010 WRC) Andreas took the car to a sensational S-WRC victory on Wales Rally GB, finishing 10th overall on the final round of the WRC. He ended a successful 2010 by winning the WRC class on the Solberg Extreme MotorShow in Oslo and the Super 2000 class at the Bologna Rallysprint, which was part of the Bologna Motor Show.
In 2011, Andreas will contest the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in a Škoda UK Motorsport Fabia S2000, co-driven by Ola Fløene.
Source: andreasmikkelsen.no
