Andreas Mikkelsen is currently poised for a maiden Intercontinental Rally Challenge victory and a home win for his entrant Skoda UK on RAC MSA Rally of Scotland. The Norwegian driver leads by 50 seconds heading into the final day.
Peugeot UK counterpart Guy Wilks won the two night stages that began the rally on Friday evening, but Mikkelsen had moved ahead after SS4 this morning when Wilks dropped a few seconds to an off-road excursion.
Things got far worse for Wilks on the following stage though when he went off the road again, this time losing more than six minutes to Mikkelsen and falling to 23rd. He said that he thought that he had picked up a puncture and was pushing to limit the time loss, causing his off.
At this point Mikkelsen had a lead of nearly 30 seconds to second placed Thierry Neuville, but his margin grew when the Belgian spun twice on SS7 lost 50 seconds and dropped to fourth. The leg-closing SS8 was cancelled due to poor road conditions.
Fellow Peugeot driver Bryan Bouffier inherited second place, but is only one second ahead of Juho Hanninen.
Per-Gunnar Andersson was running a highly impressive fourth for Proton ahead of Hanninen during the morning, but picked up more than two minutes of time penalties for a late arrival at midday service and two jump starts, pushing him out of the top ten. Teammate Alister McRae was ninth until stopping on SS5 with a drop in oil pressure.
Ireland's Craig Breen has climbed to fifth in his Fiesta, passing Skoda Sweden's Patrik Sandell. Points leader Jan Kopecky has struggled on the slippery forest stages and lies seventh.
Jarkko Nikara leads the Production Cup in eighth overall, in a battle with fellow Evo IX driver and newly-crowned British and Scottish champion David Bogie. The pair are sandwiching Skoda driver Toni Gardemeister.
Pos. | No. | Driver | Team | Car | Time/Gap |
1 | 6 | Andreas Mikkelsen | Skoda UK | Skoda Fabia S2000 | 58:52.8 |
2 | 1 | Bryan Bouffier | Peugeot France | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +50.7 |
3 | 5 | Juho Hanninen | Skoda Motorsport | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +51.7 |
4 | 4 | Thierry Neuville | Peugeot Belux | Peugeot 207 S2000 | +1:25.8 |
5 | 17 | Craig Breen | Keltech | Ford Fiesta S2000 | +1:28.5 |
6 | 15 | Patrik Sandell | Skoda Sweden | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +1:33.9 |
7 | 2 | Jan Kopecky | Skoda Motorsport | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +1:43.4 |
8 | 16 | Jarkko Nikara | Privateer | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | +2:22.2 |
9 | 12 | Toni Gardemeister | TGS Worldwide | Skoda Fabia S2000 | +2:27.3 |
10 | 11 | David Bogie | Privateer | Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX | +2:33.0 |