WRC running order rules "taken way too far" - Mikkelsen

The 2016 rule sets the order for both Friday and Saturday identical to the championship standings, giving the points leader the difficult task of having to sweep for two days on gravel rallies.

After winning in Monaco and Sweden, Ogier spent the next six rallies doing just that, the Frenchman enduring his longest winless streak with VW in WRC as a result.

Mikkelsen, who has spent the majority of the season second in the standings, said some of the rallies are simply "impossible to win" with this rule in effect.

"I've been in a similar situation like him [Ogier] all year, being second in the championship mainly for the whole year so I really see his point and I fully agree that as it runs the moment it is impossible to win rallies from the front," Mikkelsen told Motorsport.com.

"I really hope that it goes back. I am not saying that it's supposed to be completely back, but not as bad as it is right now, because they have taken it way too far.

"When you come to events like Sardinia or Portugal, it's impossible, and I think that every competitor should have the chance to win. I understand that they would like to have different winners and everything, but they can't really destroy the sport because they want different winners and not true winners.

"I felt it in Finland this year, running second on the road on the first day, we were lying third - and then Sebastien went off and I was first on the road, and I fell down to eighth or ninth with the same driving. So I really understand his views on this."

During the six gravel rallies, alongside Mikkelsen who scored his second WRC win of his career in Poland, Kris Meeke, Hayden Paddon, Jari-Matti Latvala and Thierry Neuville took turns on the top step.

Mikkelsen reckons that, while Volkswagen would have had a tough job stopping Meeke in Portugal and Finland even without the rule, others might have struggled more with scoring those wins.

"When Kris won in Portugal, he did a fantastic job," said the Norwegian. "He was really running fast and I'm not sure, if we were starting in the same order, we were supposed to beat him because he really drove well.

"Maybe some of the other winners, it would be more difficult for them to win, but I just think it's gone way too far."

Interview by Jamie Klein