Motorsport: No factory drive for Mikkelsen in 2017

Andreas Mikkelsen during Day One of the WRC Spain. Photo / Getty Images

Norway's Andreas Mikkelsen will not have a World Rally Championship factory drive for the 2017 season and will instead focus his attention on gaining a seat for 2018.

The championship runner-up and WRC Australian winner will contest the season opening Monte Carlo rally next month in a Skoda Fabia R5.

A spot at the DMACK Ford team is the final factory seat up for grabs but Welshman Elfyn Evans is tipped to be announced in that team any day.

Mikkelsen, who finished runner-up to Sebastien Ogier in this year's championship, was left without a drive when German manufacturer Volklswagen suddenly announced their departure from the championship at the end of the season.

Former Volkswagen teammates Ogier (M-Sport Ford) and Jari-Matti Latvala (Toyota) were able to find alternate drives but Mikkelsen has been left out in the cold.

"The consequence of Volkswagen withdrawing from the championship is that all the WRC seats were already taken," Mikkelsen told Autosport.

"Therefore, my 2017 season will be all about keeping my rally skills warm and finding a seat in the right team to be able to fight for the world championship in 2018.

"We don't know what the upcoming season will bring yet. But of course I hope to get to drive as much as possible and we are working on a plan to do selected rallies."