PG Andersson in his JM Racing Skoda Fabia S2000 on the Karlstad Super Special Stage earlier this month. Photo: Rasmus Bjerén

According to today’s NWT, PG Andersson is hoping for four more appearances in the Skoda Fabia Super2000 this year with the Czech JM Racing team following his superb win in the S2000 class in Sweden. The team is planning to enter six WRC events, and PG is aiming to drive four of them. The other two will probably go to other drivers, where one driver is already planned for Rally Japan.

The rallies PG is planning to enter is Rally Portugal followed by Rally Finland, Rally of France and Wales Rally GB. However, according to NWT, Andersson is still lacking around €200000 of his budget and if he doesn’t manage to get all the money he may skip France or GB.

The previous talks about Rally Sardinia is currently put on ice in favour of the mentioned four events.

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Thanks to Hedlund80 for the videos.

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More of Sandell including the car livery:

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Anders Gröndal performed tests with his Subaru Impreza on Sunday in Norway, and even he got caught by the cameras:

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Even Swedish Skoda Fabia Super2000 driver P-A Sääv has been testing recently, in the local rally Vinternatta and on private tests. Today his tests go on together with PG Andersson. Here is a video of him in Vinternatta:

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Some of Sandell's new livery exposed at the successful test in Norway. Photo: James Holms

Patrik Sandell with co-driver Emil Axelsson have spent the day testing on snow in Norway with their car for the 2010 season, the Red Bull Skoda Fabia Super2000.

Sandell himself said at the test:

- We’re doing just fine. It was good to do a rally in Norway last weekend, so we didn’t have to start at zero now. We are doing some small adjustments to the dampers to find the right setup for Rally Sweden, but the feeling is really good. Since it has snowed so much this winter the roads will be narrower than in 2008, which will make the speed go down. However, it will still be a fast rally so we chose a fast test road to see have the Skoda behaves in full speed bends.

Patrik, who will drive in the new S-WRC / WRC Cup class, continues:

- The competition in the rally will be the best we have ever met. PG is driving exactly the same car on a wild card and will be incredibly fast, so he will probably be our biggest challenge. But even Prokop and Tuohino will be there fighting for the points, he concludes.

PG Andersson's car at today's test. Photo: pgandersson.se

As the header says, a lot of last minute testing is going on for Rally Sweden… On the list is local ace P-A Sääv that will do the rally in his privately owned and newly bought Skoda Fabia Super2000. Together with him, PG Andersson will do tests with his Skoda Fabia Super2000 that has now arrived in Sweden. At the same time as PG and Sääv is testing their Fabias, Patrik Sandell is doing tests with the Red Bull Rally Team today over in Norway…

PG Andersson's car without stripes in the garage after arrival.

Andreas Mikkelsen's test place in Kall, Sweden a few days ago when Marcus Grönholm was testing the car. Today, Monday, it's Andreas' turn to do the testing. Photo: andreasmikkelsen.no

It seems like Andreas Mikkelsen has decided that he will use the Ford Fiesta Super2000 for this years campaign (source: Verdens Gang) in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Earlier, I have reported that Mikkelsen was still in the choice between the Fiesta and the Skoda Fabia Super2000 – a decisiong that now has been made.

First off and as we already know, Andreas will do Sweden in the Fiesta. Then he will follow up with a seven round programme in the IRC with the hope to go back to the World Rally Championship in 2011.

Mikkelsen’s manager, Erik Veiby, says:

- We have been working purposefully to get Andreas and Ola in a competitive car, and a team that can win the IRC series this year.

We’ll see if that’s correct…

Petter Solberg's car in service during Finnskogsvalsen. Photo: PSWRT

Petter Solberg were fastest through the stages in Swedish local competition Finnskogsvalsen today, as expected (I dare to say this despite the last stage is still running, since Petter is through with a normal time and his advantage on the previous stage is 3min 56 seconds). The Norweigan drove his Citroën C4WRC through a little bit more than 80 km’s of competitive stages and seemed to be really happy about the car. Since he recced and made his own notes for the rally, which is not allowed, Petter took part out of the competition and couldn’t win the rally. This, however, is probably nothing that will give Petter problems sleeping tonight – since the rally was first and foremost a test of his new car before Rally Sweden.

At the same time, a number of big names competed in the Norweigan Championship round Mountain Rally in Norway. Anders Gröndal took the victory from second placed Henning Solberg, who were haunted by mechanical problems in his competitive debut with new co-driver Ilka Minor. Mads Östberg with his Swedish co-driver Jonas Andersson led the rally until he hit a snow bank, forcing him out of the competition. Third was Sveinung Bieltvedt, in a Subaru Impreza.

Of course even Henning, going with a Ford Focus WRC05, used the rally primarily as a preparation for Rally Sweden. In this, he was joined by Andreas Mikkelsen and Eyvind Brynhildsen, among others. Brynhildsen scored a fourth place in his Skoda Fabia S2000 while Mikkelsen scored fifth going with his Subaru Impreza – after being penalised with 1min 20s after having to change gearbox in service. Looking at Mikkelsens time if he wouldn’t have had the penalty, he was only a few seconds after Brynhildsen in his S2000, something that maybe indicates that Mikkelsen can be really, really fast when going into the Fiesta S2000 in Sweden!?

Photos from Finnskogsvalsen at Backmans Foto
Results from Finnskogsvalsen 2010 at Resultatdata
Results from Mountain Rally 2010

Sebastien Ogier was 2nd placed going into the last loop, but on his way to the penultimate special stage his car broke down and he had to retire. This gave Juho Hänninen the 2nd place after a solid but not stunning drive throughout the weekend, where many people removed themselves from the chance of winning by making mistakes, including Meeke, Sarrazin, and others.

The standings after SS15 – and most probably the final results – are:

1. Hirvonen / Lehtinen, 4h32min 58.5s
2. Hänninen / Markula, +1min 51.4s
3. Vouilloz / Veillas, +3min 19.1s
4. Sarrazin / Renucci, +7min 25.5s
5. Kopecky / Stary, +8min 48.7s
6. Wilks / Pugh, +9min 24.5s
7. Magalhaes / Magalhaes, +9min 45.4s
8. Vigion / Prevot, +13min 33.5s

Follow the links to read more:
Results
Eurosport videos from Monte Carlo
Rally Monte Carlo 2010 on YouTube

Now, let’s look forward to a bright Rally Monte Carlo with hopefully difficult conditions of tarmac, melting snow and ice – and hope that this doesn’t mean discussions and speculations if a Fiesta wins the rally.

The new target for 2010 is likely to be S-WRC and the Super2000 class. The team reckons that they won’t be able to get a Ford or Citroen car, and I guess they consider S2000 a good warm-up for the 2011 WRC1.6T regulations. The team hopes to have a Super2000 alternative ready for Rally Jordan in the beginning of April.

I wouldn’t be surprised if we got another Fiesta in the S-WRC from Rally Jordan on…

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Thanks to Zagatio for the video.

PG himself, who makes his debut in the class, says:

- It will really be fun to test this class – and especially on my home soil.

Now, we have an even more interesting fight to look forward to in group N with Andersson, Sandell, Brynhildsen, Mikkelsen, Prokop among others. My guess is that this will be the closest and most intense fight in the rally, with a lot of young guys wanting to win like nobody else.

PG Andersson’s group N wildcard has been given to Jocke Nyman – and PG will get a new wildcard from the organisers for the S-WRC instead. His car will be managed by Czech company JM Racing.

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Thanks to GrP2 and CechStyler for the videos.

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Thanks to Stephdu07 for the video.

Also S2000 will be interesting to follow, where home ace Patrik Sandell will be hunted by skilled drivers as Mikkelsen, Brynhildsen, Prokop and Tuohino. Also Solowow, Sousa and Hunt and heavily experienced home ace Per-Arne Sääv, running on the organizers wild card, are entered in S2000 cars.

My current most interesting list (to be updated, for sure!):

• Loeb vs. Hirvonen + Latvala
• Petter vs. Henning
• How fast can Grönholm and Räikkönen be?
• What happens to the Swede superfight in group N: Andersson + Flodin + Nyman?
• The Super2000 superfight: Sandell vs. Mikkelsen + Brynhildsen + Prokop + Tuohino

Every single one of the points above will probably be world class entertainment – and of course I’ll get back with more comments, interviews etc. related to the entries. This is just the start…!

Read the full entrylist here

Besides Petter’s entry, the list contains no big surprises. However, Polish driver Michal Solowow is entered in a Peugeot 207 S2000 – something that has been rumoured but as far as I know not confirmed until now. A lot of names should still come in the entry list – the time expires tomorrow at 15PM local time for WRC entries.

Read the current entry list here (external link)

Go to my previous post about Guy Wilks
Read more on Guy Wilks website

Tomorrow is the final day for entries to Rally Sweden, and a lot of things should conclude during today and tomorrow. One of the things expected to be announced today is the car for local driver and rally wildcard PG Andersson. As I have previously reported, he is currently considering wether to go for his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in group N or a rental Super2000 car.

- Joining the IRC allows us to offer our customers the chance to make the most out of their participation on the series, as well as the opportunity to showcase our products in new markets. Initial testing with the Ford Fiesta S2000 has gone extremely well, and we’re very much looking forward to seeing our car make its competition debut with Mikko Hirvonen in Monte Carlo later this month.

This is Mikko Hirvonen testing the Ford Fiesta Super2000 in December last year:

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Here is a clip of a close moment for Wilks in the Skoda during last years Rally of Scotland:

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Video by CalumFraser.

Compare the driving styles yourself!

Ken Block, Subaru Impreza, New England Forest Rally 2008, Concord Pond stage, onboard:

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Kimi Räikkönen, Abarth Grande Punto, WRC Rally Finland 2009, Leustu stage, onboard:

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Ford Fiesta Super2000, Photo: MSport

Andreas Mikkelsen is close to seal a deal for 2010, most probably in the Ford Fiesta Super2000. However, according to NRK the young Norweigan is also talking to Skoda – so nothing is for sure. What seems to be totally sure is that Mikkelsen will start in Rally Sweden in February, and it seems that he is aiming to do the S-WRC championship. Nothing is known about any IRC participation, but my guess is that Mikkelsen will stick with only S-WRC. The Norweigan treats 2010 as another year-in-between (2009 was his first) and expects to be back in full power in 2011 able to expect even the top guns of rallying, where he mentions Loeb and Solberg as the men to beat.

I’m not sure if I believe he will be able to challenge those guys in 2011 no matter how big differences there are on the 1.6T-cars compared to today’s WRC cars – but for sure Mikkelsen has all chances to do a good season this year if he get’s a good car. Let’s wait and see…

Anyway, let’s hope Betti comes to the startline and until then we’ll enjoy his drive on this video:

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For a picture of the car, follow this link.

Here is a video, posted by Patrik himself, of today’s test:

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Nasser has previously been co-driven by different people – but this time Tina Thörner would be his choice. Tina is a unique profile and her co-driver career started already in 1990. She has gone with different drivers in both rally raid and WRC, including legendary names as Ari Vatanen, Colin McRae, Jutta Kleinschmidt and this years Dakar winner Giniel DeVilliers.

So, let’s hope that Al-Attiyah, Thörner and Skoda get their pieces together. To start in Norway is too late, but for PWRC you can exclude two events of the year – so that’s not a problem. To see them going into the PWRC could make up for a decent fight and comparison with Thörner’s countryman Patrik Sandell – who drives Skoda for the Red Bull Team. Taking into account that also Flodin competes in the PWRC with the Uspenskiy Rally Team, it would mean three Swedes able to fight in the PWRC top.

Photo: Tomas Hejdenbäck/patriksandell.com

Rally Ireland ends today, and with only two weeks to go before Rally Norway get’s running – many drivers are starting to warm up. One of them is Patrik Sandell, who recently presented his newly signed contract with the Red Bull team doing the full PWRC season in a Skoda Fabia Super2000. Patrik has driven the Fabia S2000 once earlier in  a very small test, but during the next week Patrik will be testing it for real in Sweden, most probably close to his home in Kall, Jämtland. It will be interesting to hear about his feelings in the car, especially considering the impressive performances of the Skodas in Monte and since I expect the class to be really close with a lot of good drivers in Norway.

A few days ago, Patrik launched his new website. He has always been good in PR and marketing, and – no offence – I think this has often saved him in the hard rally business. I know people have doubted his driving skills, but he has always been a very good representative for his sponsors brands. His new site is contains an MMS-blog, a video section and quite a lot of info – so Patrik keeps up his good marketing work. More can absolutely be done, but if all privateer drivers had a look at Patrik’s site – I think many of them would give a little bit more professional impression to their sponsors and potential sponsors. No matter what people think about Patrik’s driving skills and style, it’s quite obvious that he has proved that he has a place in the world top.

Check out Patriks website: www.patriksandell.com

• Red Bull has proven to be one of the most loyal of all motorsport sponsors the last few years. They have spent huge amounts of money in both the WRC and the Formula 1 Championship, and if Sandell can impress here – money wont be a problem. Also, long time Red Bull protegee Andreas Aigner has left the team, and that opens for Sandell to be the star driver for Red Bull not only for one year, but for many…
• Super2000 will be the main class in the WRC from 2010 and on. The WRC Super2000 class will be modified with turbocharger etc, but experience from Super2000 will still be a big advantage – and the Red Bull deal now means that Patrik Sandell has two years of full championship experience from two different Super2000 cars. According to Sandell himself, no other driver at all have two years of S2000 experience in a row. No matter what, no driver have driven two different Super2000 cars in competition – and Sandell has done it a lot.
• Sandell drives the PWRC, not the IRC. Most S2000 drivers do the IRC, which is quite logical. However, to get a good start for the WRC 2010 it’s much better to have driven the car in the very same championship. That gives more experience from the rallies used in the championship (some rallies may match in IRC too, for example Monte Carlo, but not as many). Also, the WRC is more attractive to sponsors, and I consider it much more likely for Sandell to meet sponsors willing to spend their money on the WRC in the WRC than in the IRC. It’s not a big secret that the WRC as a true world championship is a lot more prestigeous for a rally driver than the IRC.
• The Skoda Fabia S2000 is a quite new, and interesting, car. Skoda do have quite a lot of experience from the World Rally Championship with their WRC Fabia’s and Octavias, and the factory seems to have high ambitions on supporting motorsport projects. They haven’t been very successful, but they know what it takes and now, when classes are changing, costs are being reduced and everyone starts at zero they have the chance to impress. It seems like one of the best S2000 cars to be in.
• Everyone else is going down – Sandell is going up. Just the fact that Sandell manages to challenge despite a lost contract with Peugeot Sweden and the financial crisis striking at it’s best is a proof of Sandell’s talent to open the right doors.

The PWRC 2009 starts off in Norway, which I guess will be a huge party for Sandell and his sponsors. The season then continues with Cyprus Rally, Rallye de Portugal,Rally Argentina (excluded for Sandell), Rally d’Italia-Sardegna, Acropolis Rally, Repco Rally Australia (excluded for Sandell) and last off Wales Rally GB. If Sandell can manage to get some good testing in the car the season could be really good to him allowing him to shine in the PWRC and most important create a very good platform for the WRC 2010.

Read more at Sandell’s own website, www.patriksandell.com, or Red Bull Rallye, www.redbullrally.com.

Sandell has already done a year in Peugeot Sweden’s 207 S2000 during 2008, but was left without a drive in december when Peugeot Sweden decided to redraw from all motorsport activities.

It’s just a rumour, but it would really be nice to have these awesome news confirmed. Do you have more info? Leave a comment or contact…