The highlight of the action: as Mikkelsen tore down the hillside, Svindal produced a breath-taking jump across the road, whilst the Volkswagen Polo R WRC hurtled under him at over 100 km/h. “To pull that off, I had to plan the speed and timing of the jump perfectly,” explained Svindal. With insufficient snow to ski on further down the slope, Mikkelsen took Svindal on board the WRC Polo as a co-driver for the final few kilometres.
According to Mikkelsen, Svindal was an impressive co-driver. “Aksel immediately grasped what it was all about, and noticed important details, such as when the car lost grip for a hundredth of a second,” said the 26-year-old, who skied for the Norwegian youth team before turning to rallying. Svindal was also thrilled with his unique taxi ride: “A priceless experience! I really hope I get the chance to do that again some time,” said the 32-year-old car enthusiast. “I have to confess to being a little bit jealous of Andreas for driving in rallies.“ When asked whether Svindal could be his next co-driver in the World Rally Championship, Mikkelsen answered with a broad grin: “I would love to have Aksel as my co-driver. But he would have to lose a bit of muscle mass first.”
