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.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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:

Click here to view the embedded video.

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

Download the list here

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.

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

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

Click here to view the embedded video.

Video by CalumFraser.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to Rigipepa and RallyZone.cz for the video.

Patrik Sandell is confirmed in Red Bull Rally Team and the Skoda Fabia Super2000, Photo: Red Bull Rally Team

As I revealed already in December, Patrik Sandell with his co-driver Emil Axelsson will do the S-WRC in 2010 with Red Bull Skoda. Patrik himself tells:

- I’m very pleased to be able to drive for the BRR team again this year. It’s a very professional team, and I very much enjoy working with them. I believe they are the best. We will be able to build upon last year’s experience and progress accordingly. The target can only be the SWRC title!

Also Raimund Baumschlager, team manager, is optimistic and reveals that there will be an updated version of the Skoda Fabia Super2000 in the summer this year, called Evo2. He claims that the Fabia is a winning car and looks forward to the battle even more as Ford enters the scene with their Fiesta this year.

The team will start testing for Rally Sweden already next week, and will then drive seven events in the S-WRC calendar.
I will get back later with an interview with Patrik himself.

Red Bull Rally Team, Patrik Sandell / Emil Axelsson, calendar 2010:

February 12th – 14th Sweden
April 2nd – 4th Jordan
May 7th – 9th New Zealand
July 30th – August 1st Finland
August 20th – 22nd Germany
October 1st – 3rd France
November 12th – 14th Great Britain

In Hamar Dagblad, the young Norweigan says that his goal is to win the IRC this year, have a works seat in 2011 and win the WRC in 2012. A tough goal, if you ask me – but why not?

Patrik Sandell, photo: redbullrally.com

According to the local Swedish website Zport, Patrik Sandell is currently doing final negotiations with Red Bull and Skoda about a drive in the 2010 S-WRC. The Swede says that he “hopes” that everything will work out before the last entry date on the 4th of January. However, he doesn’t seem too worried – since he has just left for a vacation in Thailand. I think we’ll see Patrik in the Skoda, questions is just what they’re waiting for…? I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a 2 car team from Red Bull next year.

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…

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to rallyelange.

Brynhildsen will start the year by doing the local events Sigdalsrally and Mountain Rally and then continue with the S-WRC season in Sweden, Mexico, Jordan, Portugal, Germany, France and Wales.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Thanks to rallyelange for the video.

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My opinion is that getting PG into a good team in the WRC and with a mentor such as Petter would be really great and that is of course big news. However, one should remember that the amount of money still missing  is huge, and from what I know it forms around half of the budget of a Super2000 season. This means that the news is still just half a seat and there is a long way to go.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that PG and Petter get everything well together!

Sandell himself says it was the worst day in his career, and I can’t stop thinking that he haven’t been through so much then. I know a lot of drivers that would consider it more of a summer breeze. Anyway, at the same time as I think it sounds a little bit silly, it also underlines Patrik’s dedication. Of course you’re allowed to have some kind of breakdown after such a thing, and it’s now the interesting things start. We’ll get to see his real strength, if he can come back re-motivated and do good results during the rest of the season. Time will show…

Read more (Swedish) in Aftonbladet:
http://www.aftonbladet.se/sportbladet/motor/svenkkollen/article5388257.ab

Patrik Sandell/Emil Axelsson in Skoda Fabia Super2000 in Cyprus Rally 2009, Photo: Red Bull Rally

Rally of Portugal is getting closer, and Swedish Red Bull Skoda driver Patrik Sandell arrived in Algarve on Sunday evening. He spent the Monday just chilling in the sun to gain energy and focus for the event:

- I always try to get one extra day before the recce and other preparations begin. With my full-speed lifestyle it’s important to get some time off to focus. We’re back in Portugal after quite a disappointment in 2007 when I ended up retiring from all three days. However, I liked the event very much and it fits both me, Emil and the car perfectly, I think so I think it will be just fine.

Looking back on the close fight with Araujo in Cyprus, how different are the circumstances here in Portugal?

- Considering Araujos car, I think it will be harder for him, at least as far as it’s dry. We know that the Super2000 cars have a little bit of a problem when it’s wet, since we lose some traction – while group N cars can rely on low revs and still go very fast. Besides that, Araujo also have the advantage of being in his home roads. At least, the weather forecast is for nice weather…

Besides Araujo, for the first time this season there’s some real opposition with a number of drivers in Super2000 cars. What’s your view on that?

- It’s only fun! Looking at last years IRC result in Portugal, Magalhaes led after three stages, and even though he rolled on the 4th stage he has proven himself to be fast. I’ll look out for him. Of course also Flodin is in place and he is always good on finding the throttle, so it’ll certainly be a tough weekend!

Have there been any technical changes to the car since Cyprus?

- No, not really. We’ve made some small adjustments to the suspension, but since we haven’t had time to do any tests after Cyprus, most of the fine-tuning will have to be done on shakedown. I’ve got some small ideas…

So, do you have any worries for the event?

With that said, the question is… Have Skoda despite that started to test the Fabia Super2000 with turbo? I have no clue, but listening to the sound and the “bangs” of this Skoda test video very much suggests to my brain that there is a turbo involved. If anyone have some good info on this, please inform me by mail (rasmus@maxattack.net) or in the comments.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Another Subaru struggler that is happy is probably Petter Solberg. After some hard years and a retired works team, Petter is now back on the podium with a third place and two stage wins in Cyprus. To be honest, even this isn’t very unexpected. Cyprus is a rally where cautiousness, experience and reliability pays off – something that the Solberg+Xsara combination have quite a lot of. I expected Petter to be in the top 4-5, and he was – he even overshot my expectations a little. That’s fine – but in Portugal speeds will be much higher and the requirements are quite different. If I were Petter – I would make sure to switch from the Xsara now, despite the podium position. But switch to what…? Actually, I don’t think it matters wether he goes for a C4WRC or a Focus WRC. He will never get the absolutely hottest stuff if he’s not a works driver – and the cars are probably quite equal. Petter’s driving style should judge that choice. But one thing is clear – the Xsara wont be of much use in the upcoming, fast rallies of the season.

The PWRC fight was quite awesome, where Portugese driver Armindo Araujo made a stunning performance leading the rally into the last day. However, on the penultimate, super-long stage of the Sunday he was overtaken by Patrik Sandell who had followed him closely during the weekend. No matter that fact, I think Araujo should be really happy about the weekend and consider the fact that group N cars usually have no chance against the Super2000 cars – something that have been proven both in the PWRC and in the IRC. For Sandell, the victory is the second PWRC victory in a row, placing him in a pleasant championship lead 7 points ahead of Araujo and 12 points ahead of Brynhildsen. For PWRC, I still miss another Super2000 driver – preferrably a Skoda driver – that can provide a measure to prove the quality of Sandell’s performances. Sandell has always been a smart driver, but not the fastest – and to see a driver like Mikkelsen as his teammate would be really, really interesting.

A funny thing during the weekend was to follow Matthew Wilson, a guy that has been a real slow-runner in the championship for the last few years. For this rally, he seems to have adopted a conservative approach from the beginning increasing his self-confidence and experience – and then increasing speed to set good times. The result was a quite low average of placings on the stages (7 in average, to be exact), but a quite good fifth position in the final standings and also a stage win on the final stage.

So, of course most drivers probably backed off on the last stage opening the way for Wilsons win – but one certainly didn’t, and in fact he makes all pieces fall into place to understand both Matthew Wilson’s stage win and other things. With most other positions in the rally settled, Sebastien Ogier overtook Wilson on the penultimate stage – giving him a 5 second lead over Wilson. Ogier’s performance has been criticised by many people, but I think his performance until the 13th stage was very good – with an average stage position of 5,5. It’s far better than Wilson, who has been doing full championships for a few years with a car well as good as Ogier. Anyway, of course both Wilson and Ogier wanted that fifth place badly – and both put in an extensive attack on the final stage. For Ogier, it all ended beside the road just 200 meters from the finish – while it ended up with a stage win and a good rally performance for Wilson. Life isn’t really fair – and of course it’s hard for Ogier now. Anyway, if it helps, when praising Wilsons performance – I think one should keep in mind that Ogier made a far better performance despite less experience – if he just would have kept on the road for another 200 meters. I think Ogier will slowly get better when gaining more and more experience, and he may surely be podium contender within a year or two.

Seeing Mikkelsen in the Fabia would be really interesting. After Mikkelsens extremely good times in his group N Subaru in Norway fighting with Sandell, he seems to me like the optimal opponent to measure Sandell.

The question now is just what the deal depends on, more than the traditional show-stopper: money. I know that Skoda have had problems to deliver enough Fabia Super2000s to meet all requests – but I think Mr. Baumschlager (Red Bull team boss) have the best possible priority there. Let’s just hope to see Mikkelsen/Floene in the Fabia – that would be awesome!

Patrik Sandell and Emil Axelsson on the podium in Norway after a fantastic PWRC performance. Photo: Red Bull

It became a fantastic Swedish weekend in Norway. Patrik Sandell showed everyone the pace of the Skoda Fabia Super2000 when he took the lead on the first stage and kept it to the finish – the first ever victory of the Fabia S2000 and a perfect start to the Red Bull team’s PWRC assault.

PG Andersson had to retire after a clutch problem on the second day – but he is probably still considered start of the rally for most people following Norway from start to end. In his ancient Fabia WRC he took two stage wins and showed many people, including star driver Petter Solberg, that he should have a place in the world top of rallying. It’s a shame it will probably not improve his chances of having a good drive this year, but hopefully it at least improves his position negotiating with teams for next years Super2000 introduction in the WRC.

Patrik Flodin were unlucky and went into the ditch already on day one. After that he struggled on the road – but way distant from the top placings. It will be interesting to see if his good relations with the Uspenskiy team continues even after a failure. It’s easy to be friends while winning…

The strange this is… It will not be with Tina. In today’s VF (Swedish newspaper), Tina says that she considers to end her rallying career (this is nothing new, last time was a just one or two years ago what I can remember) and that she will certainly not do the PWRC in the Skoda. More exactly, she says:

- No, I wont co-drive [Nasser in the Fabia]. I think it will be hard to win the championship without a works drive. Then there is no need to drag around when I can do other things that are fun. I’ve got so many assignments so I wouldn’t have the time anyway.

I don’t know if it’s only me – but isn’t it strange? A few weeks ago she was going, now she’s not. She blames her assignments – but have her bookings rushed so much those few weeks and hasn’t she been able to say no? Strange… Also, she blames the unability to win the championship when they’re not driving for a works team. But honestly, when she said they were going to do the PWRC… What works-team did she think about then? From what I know, there is no pure, totally factory supported works team in the championship? All are ran by private teams (URT as an example) or by local outfits (RalliArt NZ). Or have I missed out on one?

To me, Skoda seems like one of the best opportunities. She would get a strong car (if in doubt – check out the Monte results) with a factory that would probably give her and Nasser quite high priority – because of the fact that they were one of just two Skoda’s in the championship.

Conclusion is… Of course Tina’s time isn’t the problem. Maybe the lack of factory support could be the problem, yes – but that would surprise me. Weren’t she at all aware of the circumstances in WRC these days?! No, more likely is that there is some other problem that she doesn’t wanna tell us – or maybe she just changed her mind. It probably doesn’t matter very much at all – but I just wonder one thing:

Why didn’t she just say that she changed her mind?

Note: Chris Patterson is likely to be Nasser’s co-driver in the PWRC instead of Tina, according to VF.

During this weekend, Patrik Sandell tested the Fabia Super2000 in Kall, close to his home soil in Jämtland, Sweden. I called him afterwards to ask a few questions regarding the car, the team and the feelings in the test. I got a feeling that Patrik was satisfied and optimistic – but still a little bit cautious – regarding the upcoming Rally Norway. Not so strange, I guess – since the Fabia has never before been tested on real snow conditions. Anyway, Patrik’s first impression of that car seems to have been really good:

- Already when I first got into the car on Saturday lunch I got a really good feeling. Since then we’ve only made small adjustments and tried to find an optimal setup, and it have worked out really great without any incidents. Since the car has never been driven on full snow before, we started off from a gravel setup and worked from that. We ended up with a setup we were really satisfied with, and switched to another road to verify it really worked out well on different road types. Even Raimund [Baumschlager, team manager of Red Bull Skoda], who works as a test driver for Skoda, tested the setup and said it was really good. Noone should be able to judge it better, since Raimund was the first one driving the car a year ago and he has got more than 1000 SS km’s in the car since then.

The snow test this weekend was Patrik’s first time really testing the Skoda in high speed – but actually it wasn’t the first time he sat in the car. Few people know, but Patrik has seen the car and checked out the cockpit one time last autumn in France, while Hänninen and Kopecky (Skoda works drivers in IRC) were driving tests. However, now he has had the chance to drive the car for real, and since Patrik has driven both the Peugeot 207 S2000 and the Skoda Fabia WRC I could hardly stop wondering – how is the Fabia S2000 compared to them?

- The Skoda Fabia is really hard to compare to the Peugeot 207, they doesn’t at all remind of each other. The Skoda Fabia WRC comparison is much better, since they feel much more similar to each other. It feels like Skoda took the best parts out of the WRC and fitted them into the Super 2000 regulations. It will be interesting to see how the do against each other – but no matter what, I really believe in this car and the Red Bull team works really well.

Now, if Patrik wants the comparison – he’ll get it really soon. Another good Swedish driver will do Rally Norway in the Fabia WRC; P.G. Andersson. After seeing Niall McShea’s initial performance in the Proton S2000 car in Rally Ireland, I think it’s not totally unrealistic dreams that a S2000 car could beat WRC cars lower in the field. Question is just – is PG one of them?

As a conclusion, Rally Norway will mean many new things to Patrik, his car and his team. New car, new team, new surface (as I wrote, the Fabia S2000 has never been driven on snow previously) and not least new tyres. New for the season is the new, wider Pirelli Sottozero tyres used for snow:

- We ran on the new tyres in the test, and I think they are good – especially for us Scandinavians. The older ones were narrower and that meant quite good grip everywhere, including in the loose. Those new ones have really good grip in the track, but as soon as you get out of the track it’s really, really slippery. I think that will be an advantage to us that are used to driving on snow.

Tomorrow Patrik leaves for Norway to start the recce on Tuesday and Wendesday. The big concurrents are all Scandinavians youngsters – Flodin, Mikkelsen and Brynhildsen. However, Patrik has one other warning too:

- Martin Prokop performed really well on the last day of the Swedish Rally 2008, he may be a threat. Myself, I want to win in Norway if the team doesn’t have other plans for me. However, we must remember it’s our first time in the new car and the first time on snow for Skoda, but hopefully it will work out well. Then we should be battling in the top of our class…

Do you want to see photos or video of the test? Check out my post from yesterday.

Ogier went up from the French championship last year showing a stunning performance in Wales. Now he’s in Monte leading with the Peugeot 207 S2000. Being booked in a Citroen C4 WRC the rest of the season he’ll have all chances to get experience. After seeing this years stunning competition in Monte the question is: Is he in the right car, the right class and the right championship?

Meeke has shown potential a few years in the JWRC and a few WRC outings. Going into the IRC he has finally managed to get a car where he can win something that matters. Monte is his first ever rally on snow, and he just say’s he loves it and goes on to win a stage!? That’s how things should be.

Hänninen has been in the PWRC for a few years. He has always showed potential and now I have the same feeling regarding him as Meeke – that he has gotten into a car good enough to win, and best of all it’s in the right time. He hasn’t been struggling around for too long – but he also hasn’t just paid himself straight into the top league. I remember seeing the Swedish Rally a few years ago with Jari-Matti Latvala in an old Toyota Corolla WRC. That year he did most WRC events to get experience and look where he is now. I think Hänninen has the same smart attitude – and his quote at the end of SS5 today shows a spirit that I just love. Asked about if he was going flat out or if he had margins left, he answered:

- Small margin maybe, but I wouldn’t like to use it on this rally.

That’s what it’s all about. Being smart, confident and having patience. I’m sure that at least one of those guys are a future champion – no matter if the championship is named WRC or IRC. They’ve already shown us that they are the guys that will bring us close competition and priceless rallying entertainment. I love it!

• 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.