MIKKELSEN’S FUTURE IN DOUBT
Hyundai’s 2019 driver line-up came under intense speculation last week, with another disastrous rally for Andreas Mikkelsen prompting debate about his position in the team.
Distracted by passing a tractor on a stage ( see story below), the Norwegian rolled his i20 Coupe WRC out of contention on the first morning of his favourite rally. That accident ended Mikkelsen’s hopes of concluding his worst WRC season on a high.
Mikkelsen has a contract with Hyundai for next year, but the team’s hierarchy have avoided detailing precisely what the 29-year-old’s deal means.
Motorsport News asked team manager Alain Penasse if there was potential it could rotate two drivers, running only Thierry Neuville in a full-time car.
“I don’t know,” said Penasse, before joking: “Maybe we’ll rotate all three cars. This rally is not going to change his [Mikkelsen’s] future. It would have been good if they could have done a good event here to put his head straight again.”
Mikkelsen admitted his departure from a rally he led last year and won in 2016 was tough to take. He said: “I don’t know what’s happened. I didn’t forget how to drive a car – it must be something else.”
Asked if he feared being benched next season, Mikkelsen added: “I am working with this team next year, I want the best for all of us, so it’s really important that I get out of this bad spiral. I guess I need just one good result and then I can relax and drive like normal.”
Mikkelsen highlighted suspension set-up issues which he feels had further complicated his season. He said: “I have been missing the consistency in the feeling from the car. What I need is to find one damper I like and stick with it.”