The stages’ rough surfaces and the level of dust in the air caused carnage during the afternoon’s opening loops, and the dust issue scarcely eased even when four-minute gaps were stipulated for the night stages.
Skoda UK driver Mikkelsen stayed out of trouble and calmly pulled out a massive 2m44.1s lead. The reigning champion now looks well set for his first rally victory since the season-opening Azores event.
The Crinti stage produced most of the drama. The first running featured Sepp Wiegand sustaining a puncture, Mathieu Arzeno taking a wheel off his Peugeot, and Patrik Flodin breaking a wheel and then inadvertently delaying legend Francois Delecour. All that allowed Hungary’s Gergely Szabo to appear in a surprise second place, until he too sustained a puncture on the second running of the stage, where the dust issues became particularly acute.
By the end of the night, Wiegand was back up to second, with a 24-second cushion over Delecour. Szabo is fourth, and Flodin’s recovery drive has taken him from 45th to sixth so far.
Leading positions after SS7:Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap
1. Andreas Mikkelsen Skoda UK 1h06m07.1s
2. Sepp Wiegand Skoda Deutschland + 2m44.1s
3. Francois Delecour Munaretto Peugeot + 3m08.8s
4. Gergely Szabo Skoda + 4m17.7s
5. Valentin Porcisteanu Mitsubishi + 4m48.6s
6. Patrik Flodin Solberg Ford + 5m33.2s
7. Vitaliy Pushkar Ukraine Mitsubishi + 6m15.3s
8. Marco Tempestini Skoda + 6m36.6s
9. Edwin Keleti Mitsubishi + 6m44.1s
10. Harry Hunt iCars Citroen + 7m50.5s
Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/3rdparty/mikkelsen-dominating-in-romania
Yves Giraud Cabantous Ignazio Giunti Timo Glock Helm Glöckler Paco Godia
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