Heading home from a rally as the new leader of the championship isn’t supposed to make you feel angry.
But for one very good reason, Andreas Mikkelsen was left frustrated with himself for a decision he made that squandered his chance to finish on the Rally Finland podium in WRC2.
And it all stemmed from Rally Estonia two weeks ago.
In Tartu, Mikkelsen was busy executing his now well-founded plan of pushing hard but leaving something on the table as he minimized the risks.
As a result he was second at Friday lunchtime, trailing Oliver Solberg’s similar Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 by 13.5 seconds.
Solberg would ultimately run wide, clip a rock, break a damper and fall out of the fight for the win – paving Mikkelsen’s path clear to score a second WRC2 win in a row and third in Estonia.
But heading to Jyväskylä, Solberg’s speed had left an impression on Mikkelsen.
“After seeing Oliver’s speed in Estonia where he was really quick, I wanted to try that,” Mikkelsen told DirtFish.
That led Mikkelsen to try Toksport team-mate Solberg’s setup for Rally Finland, but an incredibly wet test meant he was unable to learn much.
The Norwegian therefore started the rally with Solberg’s settings, but it didn’t work.
I have to admit I made a mistake coming into the eventAndreas Mikkelsen
“On our pre-event test here it was raining really heavily so it was really impossible to try anything, so I decided to start the rally like he is used to driving the car and for me it didn’t work at all,” Mikkelsen explained.
“I had no precision, couldn’t trust the car to do what I wanted with my driving style. So step by step we changed and by midday yesterday [Saturday] I was fully back on my Estonia and also my setup that I’m using for all the rallies in this car.
“And then I felt really good straightaway. We were fastest on the splits in Päijälä before I lost my brakes so this was a good feeling to know that we are still there.”
Mikkelsen’s Rally Finland was complicated by the brake issues he mentioned there, as well as a puncture he collected when touching a rock on that same afternoon.
But with the benefit of hindsight, Mikkelsen regrets veering away from what he knows.
“We hoped to have a better end result,” he conceded.
“I have to admit I made a mistake coming into the event wanting to try something new for the setup on this event and it didn’t work. But at the same time if you are never willing to try new things you will never improve so…
“OK this was a step in the wrong direction, so when we changed back, I felt at peace with the car again and I could [drive] like how I wanted to.
“I wish I could start the rally over like that but anyway a fourth place with some valuable points we are now up in the lead of the championship so that is good, but unfortunately we hoped for better than fourth.”
Solberg, who has driven on all nine WRC events this season but only scored WRC2 points on five of them, has used the same setup for the entire year.
They say imitation is the best form of flattery, so when it was pointed out to Solberg that Mikkelsen had attempted to try his settings but it hadn’t worked, the Swede quipped.
“That’s his problem, not my problem!”
