Andreas Mikkelsen drove his M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 into fifth in the Geko Ypres Rally. The Norwegian was the highest-placed Ypres Rally rookie.

"I'm very happy with my result here. It was not easy to drive on these roads as a rookie. I'm sure I can go faster next time I will be here", commented the 21 year old Norwegian after he bagged his first four IRC points in Belgium.

The Norwegian and his co-driver, Ola Fløene, were delayed by a puncture on Friday's second stage. But despite being in seventh place overnight, they gradually climbed the leaderboard to finish fifth with their Ford Fiesta S2000, on Hankook tyres, on Saturday.

"Our goal was top six this weekend, and everything ran just as planned. We had no problems with the car. The only problem was a lack of experience on these very difficult roads", said Mikkelsen.

Mikkelsen and Fløene will do seven rounds in this year's IRC with their M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 and their next rally will be Sata Rallye Açores, 15-17 July.

Top ten Geko Ypres Rally
1 Freddy Loix/Frederic Miclotte (Skoda Fabia S2000) 2h35m36.9s
2 Jan Kopecky/Petr Stary (Skoda Fabia S2000) +22.1s
3 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Klinger (Peugeot 207 S2000) +2m05.5s
4 Bernd Casier/Francis Caesemaeker (Skoda Fabia S2000) +4m06.1s
5 Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000) +5m20.9s
6 Bruno Magalhaes/Carlos Magalhaes (Peugeot 207 S2000) +6m06.2s
7 Michal Solowow/Maciej Baran (M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000) +7m24.5s
8 Luca Betti/Pierangelo Scalvini (Peugeot 207 S2000) +9m37.6s
9 Corrado Fontana/Nicola Arena (Peugeot 207 S2000) +9m53.0s
10 Maciej Oleksowicz/Andrzej Obrebowski (M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000) +10m39.0s