Andreas Mikkelsen has admitted it was his own mistake in tricky conditions that caused him to crash out of the Central European Rally on Friday morning.
Mikkelsen had suffered a loss of hybrid power on the previous stage and had been struggling to judge grip levels all morning in damp conditions. Having been third overnight, seemingly happier with the set-up on his Hyundai i20 N Rally1, Mikkelsen slipped to sixth after Friday’s opening two stages, 21.8s off the pace.
He then ran wide on a medium-speed left-hander on SS5 Šumavské Hoštice, a stage where fewer anti-cut devices meant earlier cars dragged more dirt onto the road than in previous stages. The Hyundai crashed through a fence with sturdy posts, inflicting damage to the front and right of the car that would end its day.
“I just slid off the road,” Mikkelsen told DirtFish. “Very tricky conditions, and a tough stage. This left-hander was just a bit more slippier than I anticipated and I just slid off into the fence. And the fence was like a proper fence, as you can see, so too much damage on the car to continue.
“It was difficult [to judge the level of grip available], especially this stage as well where there was not really a lot of anti-cuts. So very difficult with the road position.
“We still tried to keep the good pace and still tried to push. I lost a little bit too much time in the previous stage so I would like to have a good rhythm in here and then I just slid off the road.”
Mikkelsen was running soft compound tires on all four corners of his car, in common with all the leading drivers.
He admitted: “The tire choice was fine for this morning – everyone went with the same. It was a mistake from my side.”
Asked if he thought the car was repairable to rejoin the rally on Saturday, Mikkelsen responded: “I don’t know, we haven’t had a look yet. It didn’t happen so long time ago so we’ll wait and see.”
