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Mikkelsen masters Monza

Andreas Mikkelsen was crowned master of Monza after a winning finale to his season alongside Hyundai Motorsport team-mate Thierry Neuville at the Italian race circuit.

The Norwegian won the Masters' Show in a 2016-specifiation Hyundai i20 World Rally Car after earlier finishing second alongside the Belgian in the Monza Rally.

Mikkelsen defeated Motocross legend Tony Cairoli in the Masters' semi-final before beating Italian circuit racer Marco Bonanomi in the final over a 1750-metre asphalt course.

Earlier in the weekend Mikkelsen and Neuville finished second in the three-day rally, the pair swapping driving and co-driving duties around the nine asphalt speed tests covering almost 170km.

They led Cairoli by 1.6sec after the opening night's two special stages. They increased the advantage to 3.8sec but a 10sec penalty for clipping a circuit marker and a rear left puncture demoted them to fourth, 6.5sec behind multiple MotoGP world champion Valentino Rossi.

They battled back to second in the final test, finishing 5.7sec behind the Italian who won for a sixth time in a Ford Fiesta RS World Rally Car.

Citroën's Craig Breen and European ladies rally champion and girlfriend Tamara Molinaro retired their DS 3 World Rally Car (below) from sixth place in the second leg following engine failure.

Zdroj: wrc.com