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Andreas Mikkelsen on brink of maiden Intercontinental Rally Challenge win in Scotland

Andreas Mikkelsen is on course for his maiden Intercontinental Rally Challenge victory with just two short stages to go, despite a scare when he picked up another puncture on High Corrie

The Skoda UK driver's lead had been reduced to 28 seconds over Juho Hanninen when a puncture cost him time on the earlier run through High Corrie.

Mikkelsen dissuaded Hanninen from pushing for the victory by winning this afternoon's opening Loch Chon stage by a full 8.4s. That meant even with his puncture on the next stage, Mikkelsen still heads to Scone Palace with a 30.4s advantage.

"I had a big puncture three kilometres from the finish and it was such a big hit I was afraid the whole steering was gone," said Mikkelsen, who will check the car at the service before the final stages. "We lost time but we didn't lose too much."

Bryan Bouffier had a scare with brake problems on SS12 and then picked up a 10s penalty for being late into SS13 while attending to them. His third place for Peugeot France remains safe, though.

Fourth-placed Craig Breen pinpointed his earlier issue as a cracked exhaust manifold on his Ford, and despite a differential worry on High Corrie, he continues to resist championship leader Jan Kopecky's Skoda.

Jarkko Nikara had got up to sixth in the top Production car, but lost two places with a puncture on Loch Chon then crashed out on High Corrie.

That allowed Toni Gardemeister into the top six, though the TGS Worldwide Skoda is only 3.4s ahead of the recovering Thierry Neuville (Kronos/Peugeot Belux).

Leading positions after SS13:

Pos  Driver             Team/Car                Time/Gap
 1.  Andreas Mikkelsen  Skoda UK              1h51m12.4s
 2.  Juho Hanninen      Skoda                    + 30.4s
 3.  Bryan Bouffier     PH/Peugeot France      + 1m34.4s
 4.  Craig Breen        Kel-Tech Ford          + 2m00.5s
 5.  Jan Kopecky        Skoda                  + 2m13.5s
 6.  Toni Gardemeister  TGS Skoda              + 3m14.7s
 7.  Thierry Neuville   Kronos/Peugeot Belux   + 3m18.1s
 8.  Alastair Fisher    M-Sport Ford           + 5m02.9s
 9.  Guy Wilks          Kronos/Peugeot UK      + 6m54.3s
10.  Toshi Arai         Arai Subaru            + 8m14.6s

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