Team Norway-utøverne Andreas Mikkelsen og Torstein Eriksen er klare for årets første VM-runde i rally, Rally Monte Carlo, hvor de stiller til start i WRC2-klassen med sin Skoda Fabia. Les mer i denne pressemeldingen på engelsk.
Mladá Boleslav, 18 January 2022 – Next weekend’s Rallye Monte–Carlo
(20 – 23 January 2022) will open the FIA World Rally Championship, with the ŠKODA FABIA
Rally2 evo once again making up a large part of the WRC2 field. The ŠKODA Motorsport–
backed team Toksport WRT alone will be entering three ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo cars for
Andreas Mikkelsen/Torstein Eriksen (NOR/NOR), Marco Bulacia/Marcelo Der Ohannesian
(BOL/ARG) and Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov from Russia. Standing out among
private ŠKODA drivers is the four–time Belgian rally champion Freddy Loix, who will be
starting alongside co–driver Pieter Tsjoen.
Andreas Mikkelsen can look back on one of the most successful seasons of his career. Driving a
ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo from team Toksport WRT, he won the WRC2 category of the FIA World
Rally Championship (WRC) in 2021 as well as the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC)
overall. This impressively builds on his previous successes in ŠKODA rally cars; Mikkelsen won the
Intercontinental Rally Championship (IRC) in 2011 and 2012 in a FABIA S2000.
On his return to ŠKODA at the 2017 Rallye Monte–Carlo, Mikkelsen not only won the WRC2
category; he also finished seventh overall – surrounded by more powerful WRC1 cars. In January
2021, the Norwegian was able to repeat this success. Driving a ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo entered
by Team Toksport WRT, Mikkelsen once again brought home a WRC2 category win, finishing
seventh overall. Asked about his goals for the upcoming start of the 2022 season, he said, “I want
to lay the foundation for defending the title with another WRC2 victory. Of course, I also want to
finish as high up in the overall standings as possible again.”
Mikkelsen’s teammate at Toksport WRT is 21–year–old Marco Bulacia from Bolivia, who will be
listening to his Argentine co–driver Marcelo Der Ohannesian calling the notes in the ŠKODA FABIA
Rally2 evo. Bulacia finished the 2021 season fourth overall in the WRC2 drivers’ standings.
“Last year’s Monte was our first ever rally where we alternated between asphalt, ice and snow. We
learned a lot, I want to build on this experience, and I still treat this legendary rally with the respect it
deserves,” Bulacia emphasises.
The Russian duo Nikolay Gryazin/Konstantin Aleksandrov switched to a ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo
for the RallyRACC Rally de España in autumn 2021, achieving second place in their class straight
off the bat. In December, they won the Rally National Hivernal du Dévoluy in France in the
ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo. Armed with this experience, Gryazin/Aleksandrov will now tackle their
third start at the Rallye Monte–Carlo. Like their Belgian veterans and brand colleague Freddy Loix/Pieter Tsjoen (BEL/BEL), they are among the favourites in the field of Rally2
competitors. Four-time Belgian Rally Champion and former ŠKODA works driver Loix comes to the
season opener with two podium finishes at the Rallye Monte-Carlo under his belt, having finished
second overall in both 2009 and 2011.
The Rallye Monte-Carlo gets underway on Thursday (20 January) at 18:45 in front of the
Principality’s casino, followed by two special stages over roughly 38 kilometres. On Friday
(21 January), the drivers will face six special stages, followed by five special stages on Saturday
(22 January). On both days the teams have to manage without a service break at lunchtime.
Sunday (23 January) has another four special stages in store. All in all, there are 17 special stages,
covering a total distance of around 296 kilometre