Skoda rally star rescues damsel in distress

Being a gentleman of impeccable manners, Andreas Mikkelsen came to the rescue when he saw a pretty damsel in distress by the side of the road. Amber Le Bon – daughter of model Yasmin and Duran Duran lead singer Simon – was stranded en route to the Goodwood Festival of Speed press day, as her car had broken down. As luck would have it, Andreas just happened to be driving by in his Skoda UK Motorsport Fabia S2000 and gave her a lift. But Andreas didn’t know the way and it turned into a flat-out journey in every direction to get Amber to Goodwood House on time – as Skoda UK’s spectacular new video shows.
 
The film was shot over two days on the Goodwood Estate in West Sussex, and is being shown on-line to celebrate Skoda UK and Goodwood’s new partnership – and in particular the ‘Goodwood Forest Rally Stage presented by Skoda’, where Andreas Mikkelsen and the Fabia S2000 will be one of the main attractions (June 30-3 July).
 
The fast and furious video shows Andreas driving the Fabia S2000 at high-speed around Goodwood, racing a plane taking off from the airfield, power-sliding inside the hangers, doing donuts around a bonfire, racing karts on the kart track and blasting through the rally stage before dropping Amber off safely at Goodwood House, where Lord March and Yasmin are awaiting her arrival.
 
Yasmin and Amber Le Bon also enjoyed a ride in the Fabia S2000, when they rode with Andreas over the Goodwood Forest Rally Stage at night!
 
The video was filmed by Vertical Productions, a London-based full-service film production company. The three-minute film was shot on HD XD cam (Blu-Ray format) using five mini-cams and a main camera unit. The film crew consisted of Paul Davidson (Producer and Director), Toby Wilkinson (cameraman), Stuart Keasley (mini-cam specialist), Rob Entwhistle (sound) and was edited by Martin Swan and Paul Hicks.
 
Robert Hazelwood, Director of Skoda UK: “Andrea’s incredible high-speed car control and the performance of the Fabia S2000 rally car shine through, as does the fun and energy of the brand. The video is an exciting way to highlight our association with rallying and the Goodwood Festival of Speed, as we celebrate 110 years of motorsport heritage. We’ve made award-winning television advertisements in recent years, so we hope the viewers like this action-packed rally video too. We’d like to thank Yasmin and Amber Le Bon and Lord March for helping to make this possible.”
 
Goodwood Festival of Speed founder Lord March: "When we discussed the initial concept for this video it sounded fun and exciting, but having now seen the final cut, it is even more entertaining than I ever imagined.  It showcases the considerable talents of Andreas and the Fabia S2000 very well, and it's good to show some parts of the Goodwood Estate that most of our Festival of Speed guests rarely get to see as well."
 
Paul Davidson: “It was a very enjoyable project, because everyone at Skoda and Goodwood were up for doing something really creative and different. When they said we could do anything we wanted with the rally car and the Goodwood Estate, they really meant it. We had a lot of fun making the film and that really comes through in the final edit. We hope rally fans like it too.”
 
Tickets and more information for the Goodwood Festival of Speed can be found on goodwood.com.
 
The film can be viewed and downloaded at: skodaukmotorsport.com/Skoda_UK_Motorsport6/Videos.html.