Andreas Mikkelsen and Ola Fløene piloted their Ford Focus 06 WRC to victory on the fifth round of the Norwegian National Rally Championship, Rally Aurskog Holand (7th June). The crew immediately took control and led from the start of the event.

Andreas and Ola drove very maturely on the rally, settling into a safe comfortable pace right from the start, to ensure that they came away from the event with their Norwegian National Championship dreams still alive.

Reigning national rally champion Mads Østberg and his co-driver Ole Kristian Unnerud suffered a puncture on their Subaru on the first stage of the day and subsequently struggled to make up the time deficit. They finally finished the event in third position, with Mads father, Morten Ostberg, just six seconds behind. Østberg Senior opted to take a tactical penalty in order to maximise his son’s points haul.

Andreas currently leads the championship by five points, with two rounds left.

Top Ten: Aurskog Høland Rally 2008

1. Andreas Mikkelsen / Ola Fløene Ford Focus WRC 44 min 47.4 sec

2. Sveinung Bieltvedt / Roger Eilertsen Subaru Impreza Sti 2:26.0

3. Mads Østberg / Ole Kristian Unnerud Subaru Impreza WRC 2:36.7

4. Morten Østberg / Christian Østberg Subaru Impreza WRC 2:42.0

5. Bernt Kollevold / Thomas Myhre Hansen Mitsubishi EVO 2:46.8

6. Christian August Selmer / Nils-Henrik Holmen Ford Focus WRC 2:50.8

7. Anders Kjær Trond / Svendsen Subaru Impreza Sti 3:14.9

8. 10 Øyvind Sulland / Jørgen Nordhagen Subaru Impreza Sti 3:48.2

9. Geir Ingar Mythe / Wenche Fønnebø Subaru Impreza STi 4:13.3

10. Kenneth Johnsrød / Veronica Engan Mitsubishi EVO 5:09.3

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The next Norwegian Championship rally will be Rally Larvik on 6th September.