Intro:

Andreas Mikkelsen led a Volkswagen 1-2-3 in the Wales Rally GB pre-event shakedown in Clocaenog Forest on Thursday.

Script:

The final round of the 2014 World Rally Championship season takes place in Wales over the weekend and Norway's Andreas Mikkelsen threw down the gauntlet in Thursday's pre-event shakedown.

Mikkelsen clocked two minutes 1.3 seconds, three tenths of a second quicker than fellow Volkswagen drivers Jari-Matti Latvala of Finland and France's newly-crowned world champion Sebastien Ogier.

Ogier - who opted to take just two runs over the course out of the optional four - wrapped up his second straight world title last time out in the Rally of Spain.

Latvala and Mikkelson will finish second and third in the drivers' standings whatever the outcome in Wales, but there are still bragging rights to be fought for in the final event of the year.

Behind the Volkswagen trio though, Poland's Robert Kubica was fourth in his Ford Fiesta RS, nine-tenths slower than Mikkelsen's pace.

Ott Tanak of Estonia was a tenth of a second further back in another Fiesta, with Britons Kris Meeke and Elfyn Evans tied in sixth, 1.1 seconds off the pace.

Three former winners of the Wales Rally are taking part this weekend - last year's champion Ogier, Latvala, who took the 2011 and 2012 titles and his Finnish compatriot Mikko Hirvonen, the winner in 2007.

It will also be an emotional weekend for Hirvonen, who has announced his retirement.