Andreas Mikkelsen took a podium in Rally Sweden – his first усшг Hyundai in the World Rally Championship. The Norwegian driver was really content with his result.
“It was a fantastic feeling to be standing on the podium for the first time with Hyundai Motorsport”, Mikkelsen said. “We had a pretty solid weekend and enjoyed a clean final morning. I wanted to give a push on the Power Stage but it’s always a fine line as we definitely didn’t want to risk our podium. In the end, we took three points and third place overall, which is very encouraging. More than that, it has been an excellent weekend for the team as a whole, and our congratulations go to Thierry [Neuville] and Nicolas [Gilsoul] on a tremendous result. It’s wonderful to be able to share in this success, and to see the team at the top of the championship, even at this early stage in the season.”
Andreas Mikkelsen took a podium in Rally Sweden – his first усшг Hyundai in the World Rally Championship
I’m very happy with our first podium with @HMSGOfficial but today my biggest congratulations goes out to everybody in the team and @thierryneuville & @nicolasgilsoul for their inspiring #RallySweden victory! Proud to be with you! #NextTime #WRC #Hyundai pic.twitter.com/DbWndzaFlu
— Andreas Mikkelsen (@AMikkelsenRally) February 18, 2018
Meanwhile, Hayden Paddon took two stage wins during the weekend and was fifth overall. Still, the Kiwi driver took lots of positives to take away.
“An annoying end to what had been a generally positive weekend for us. It was just a small mistake in the Power Stage, which stalled the car and lost us too much time to defend our fourth place”, Paddon said.
“It is what it is. We’re not in the championship hunt this season so whether it’s fourth or fifth doesn’t really matter greatly. We have plenty of positives to take away from the event and I am looking forward to continuing this trend in my next WRC event in Portugal. I’m happy to have been part of this competitive rally for the team and I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel.”
Fun facts from Rally Sweden
✳️ our 123.5 km/h average speed to win SS5 Hof-Finnskog is fastest stage so far in WRC 2018
✳️ Hyundai became first team in 2018 to take a stage P1, P2 & P3 on SS8 Torsby
✳️ our 4 Rally Sweden drives for Hyundai have included 3 top 5 finishes pic.twitter.com/lUmazNLd8m— Hayden Paddon (@HaydenPaddon) February 20, 2018
