Andreas Mikkelsen and co-driver Ola Fløene will contest the 2011 Trofeo Rally Terra – the Italian Gravel Rally Championship – in a Škoda Rally Team Italia Fabia S2000. The programme is in addition to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC), which they will continue to do with Škoda UK Motorsport.

Škoda Rally Team Italia, which is based in Oleggio Castello, near Lago Maggiore in northern Italy, is the same team that runs the Fabia S2000 for Škoda UK Motorsport in the IRC. It also ran Andreas on last year’s Wales Rally GB, when he won the S-WRC category by over six minutes, finished 10th overall and scored a WRC point.

The opening round of the Italian Gravel Rally Championship, the Rally dell’Adriatico, takes place on 1 April. Based in Ancona on the east coast, the event contains 68 miles (110kms) of smooth and medium fast gravel stages.

Andreas: “It’s a fantastic opportunity to do the Italian Gravel Championship with Škoda Rally Team Italia and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s the same guys that run the IRC programme for Škoda UK Motorsport and who ran the Fabia S2000 for me on last year’s Rally GB, so we already know each other well and these additional rallies will help us grow stronger as a team.   As this year’s IRC features mostly asphalt rallies, the Italian Gravel Championship will also help me to keep my speed up on the loose – so it’s a win-win situation, whichever way you look at it.”

Pierfrancesco Zanchi, Škoda Rally Team Italia Team Principal said, “This new project fits the philosophy of the team perfectly, because it’s young, exciting and puts us in front of a new audience in Italy at the very highest level. It’s very good for Italian rallying too; we are used to seeing very talented drivers competing in Italy, but every year it is the same ones. We wanted to introduce someone new and see how he compares to the senators of Italian competition. As we already work with Andreas with Škoda UK Motorsport in the IRC, he was the perfect choice on every level. It’s a very exciting challenge and the team is very inspired and motivated to succeed.”