Important podium and valuable points in Rally Argentina
Rally Argentina went completely according to plan for Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger. The Volkswagen duo finally secured a strong and well-deserved third place at Rally Argentina. A result that Andreas is very pleased with, especially considering his retirement in Mexico and that he also retired from Rally Argentina last year and was out looking for…
April 24, 2016
Rally Argentina went completely according to plan for Andreas Mikkelsen and Anders Jæger. The Volkswagen duo finally secured a strong and well-deserved third place at Rally Argentina. A result that Andreas is very pleased with, especially considering his retirement in Mexico and that he also retired from Rally Argentina last year and was out looking for revenge.
“This has been a good rally. The plan was to drive in the middle of the road to stay safe. We got valuable points eventually, which was important since we didn’t get any in Mexico. So I’ll take this with me to the upcoming events” says a relieved and happy EVEN Management driver after the rally.
The plan worked from day one. Andreas started the event carefully, controlled and took no risks. He had a bit of a disadvantage from starting early in the field and both him and Sebastien Ogier lost a lot of time to fast drivers like Jari-Matti Latvala and Hayden Paddon, who ran further back.
“I want to score points here. I’ve found a controlled pace that I can stick to all the way without taking too many risks. But I’m not too far behind, I’m very pleased with my own driving and Anders reads the pacenotes really well” said Andreas on Friday evening.
The same tactics helped the guys all through the weekend. Instead of chasing a result as good as possible, they focused on the points. And that turned out to be very clever, because when Latvala crashed out of the victory fight on Saturday, the podium was within reach for Andreas and Anders.
The driving worked like a charm on Saturday as well for the Norwegian guys. Andreas even called it one of their best days together in a rally car.
“We’ve been quick, but we’ve driven safely and controlled. The way you should drive all the time actually” was Andreas’ conclusion after Saturday, which they topped off by winning a stage.
The duo kept the same pace on Sunday. They could, without any drama, secure third place and simply let the top two guys battle for the win on their own. It was Hyundai driver Hayden Paddon that eventually walked away with his first ever WRC win, with Sebastien Ogier in second place, followed by Andreas and Anders in third.
Now awaits new challenges at Rally Portugal in the end of May and Andreas promises to go flat out.
“I’m looking forward to Portugal, where we’re going with a good result behind us. So we can definitely fight a little harder there” says Andreas with a big smile.