Cyprus IRC: Andreas Mikkelsen takes early lead
Andreas Mikkelsen kicked off the weekend that will see him officially crowned as the final Intercontinental Rally Challenge champion by setting the pace on stage one in Cyprus
With Skoda opting not to enter Juho Hanninen and Jan Kopecky for the season finale, reigning champion Mikkelsen's points lead is unassailable.
The Norwegian was quickest by 4.4 seconds on the Pafos street stage that kicked off the last rally in IRC history.
Production Cup driver Jarkko Nikara upstaged the rest of the Super 2000 pack with second place in his Subaru.
World Rally regular and 2010 Cyprus winner Nasser Al-Attiyah and double Production WRC champion Toshi Arai share fourth place, closely followed by series returnee Sepp Wiegand in the Skoda Deutschland Fabia.
The rally proper kicks off on Saturday morning with the first of 12 gravel stages.
Leading positions after SS1: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Andreas Mikkelsen Skoda UK 2m48.6s 2. Jarkko Nikara Makinen Subaru + 4.4s 3. Nasser Al-Attiyah Qatar Ford + 5.7s 4. Toshi Arai Makinen Subaru + 5.7s 5. Sepp Wiegand Skoda Deutschland + 6.7s 6. Yazeed Al Rajhi Yazeed Ford + 9.2s 7. Robert Consani Renault + 9.5s 8. Paraskevas Paraskeva Paraskevas Mitsubishi + 11.5s 9. Andreas Aigner Makinen Subaru + 11.7s 10. Armin Kremer Subaru + 14.7s
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