WRC Rally GB: Andreas Mikkelsen tops shakedown for VW

Mikkelsen was three tenths of a second faster over the two-mile Clocaenog stage than his fellow Polo drivers Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala, who were tied on second quickest, ensuring Volkswagen a clean sweep for the German manufacturer.

The Norwegian completed four runs in the test and clinched the scratch time on his third attempt.

"It's a good morning," said Mikkelsen, who used to live in Ruthin, the venue for remote shakedown service.

"I have good memories of this place and these roads. I love this rally, it's like another home event for me. I really want to go well here."

Mikkelsen is chasing his maiden WRC win in Wales this week, but will face huge competition from both Ogier and Latvala.

With both drivers' and manufacturers' championships sorted, the Volkswagen crews have been given the green light to fight for the right to stand on the podium's top step in Llandudno on Sunday.

M-Sport's Robert Kubica was first of the non-Polos, nine tenths of a second off Mikkelsen and one tenth ahead of Ott Tanak. The Estonian is back in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC for this event and running a new-specification DMACK tyre.

British drivers Kris Meeke and Elfyn Evans were tied in sixth spot. Meeke was keen to get as much running under his Citroen DS3 WRC as possible and completed seven runs at the stage.

That 14 miles represents Meeke's only gravel testing for his home round of the championship after Citroen elected not to run a pre-event test.

Leading shakedown times:

Pos  Driver              Team/Car      Time     Gap
 1.  Andreas Mikkelsen   VW            2m01.3s
 2.  Sebastien Ogier     VW            2m01.6s  +0.3s
 =   Jari-Matti Latvala  VW            2m01.6s  +0.3s
 4.  Robert Kubica       M-Sport Ford  2m02.2s  +0.9s
 5.  Ott Tanak           M-Sport Ford  2m02.3s  +1.0s
 6.  Kris Meeke          Citroen       2m02.4s  +1.1s
 =   Elfyn Evans         M-Sport Ford  2m02.4s  +1.1s
 8.  Mikko Hirvonen      M-Sport Ford  2m02.5s  +1.2s
 9.  Hayden Paddon       Hyundai       2m03.2s  +1.9s
 =   Mads Ostberg        Citroen       2m03.2s  +1.9s 

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