Andreas Mikkelsen has taken the early lead at the 2013 Rally Australia after going quickest of all on the opening stage; This is the first time Mikkelsen leads a World Rally Championship round in his career.
The Volkswagen driver completed SS1 in 1 minute 22.1 seconds to take the lead, he then lost 0.1 seconds to Sebastien Ogier on SS2, however, maintained the overall lead, just 0.9 seconds ahead of Citroen’s Kris Meeke.
Meeke is followed by the two Volkswagen drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Sebastien Ogier respectively, with the latter 1.5 seconds off Mikkelsen’s lead.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Andreas Mikkelsen VW 2m45.3s 2. Kris Meeke Citroen +0.9s 3. Jari-Matti Latvala VW +1.4s 4. Sebastien Ogier VW +1.5s 5. Mikko Hirvonen Citroen +1.9s 6. Thierry Neuville M-Sport Ford +2.7s 7. Mads Ostberg M-Sport Ford +4.6s 8. Evgeny Novikov M-Sport Ford +6.5s 9. Khalid Al Qassimi Abu Dhabi Citroen +8.1s 10. Nathan Quinn Italia Mini +10.3s