Former Volkswagen and Hyundai factory driver Andreas Mikkelsen says he’s ready to step back to a WRC2 program next season as he gears himself up for a full factory return in 2022.
Three-time world rally winner Mikkelsen lost his i20 Coupe WRC seat at the end of last season and has spent this year conducting Pirelli’s 2021 tire test and development program, driving a Saintéloc-run Citroën C3 WRC.
“The main focus for me is to be back at the top in 2022,” Mikkelsen told DirtFish.
“I know that I can’t sit on the sidelines and wait for that to happen next year. Like I told you before, I am ready to invest in myself next season and I’m also ready to [do] WRC2.
“Basically, I have to be in the best possible position [for 2022] and WRC2 is something I’m open to.”
Mikkelsen last dropped down to the WRC’s second tier at the start of 2017, when he dominated WRC2 in Monte Carlo and Corsica (finishing seventh overall on both rallies) before crashing out of Portugal with the Škoda factory squad.
Those outings helped land Mikkelsen a Citroën seat for three WRC rounds before a full-time return with Hyundai Motorsport from Spain, 2017 onwards.
The Norwegian is poised to contest both the final two rounds of this year’s WRC in Rally2 machinery and will make his first rally start of the year on next weekend’s ERC Rally Hungary (November 6-8).
