Posts Tagged ‘skoda fabia wrc’

Deep shit for PG

Monday, March 9th, 2009

This note comes a little bit late maybe, but after this weekend’s Numedalsrally in Norway, PG Andersson has now only shit ahead concerning his rallying career – in a short term. There are (from what I know) no planned rallies and sponsors are holding their money tight because of the economical crisis.

Maybe PG will do some more starts in the Skoda in Norway – and in the most optimistic situation also in Finland or Poland – but in a whole I fear his career will be on hold for the rest of his year. Hopefully he manages to get something together for next year though, but it will be tough.

Anyway… He’s a hell of a driver and a good entertainer. Go PG!

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Posted in National Rallying, Silly season, WRC | 2 Comments »

PG Andersson interview: “Team bosses aren’t really chasing me with paper and pencil”

Saturday, February 21st, 2009

Despite not getting to the finish, PG Andersson made a fantastic performance in Rally Norway a week ago. PG himself told me before the event that he would be really satisfied with a fifth or sixth place. Now he didn’t finish at all, but he took two spectacular stage wins on Friday afternoon – outpacing the world’s best drivers in a car (Skoda Fabia WRC) no one expected to be even close to competitive compared to the Citroen C4WRC or the Ford Focus.

I called PG on Thursday this week, when he was back home in Sweden – and he seemed happy with his result:

- It went really well as long as it lasted, better than we could ever imagine. We intended to be fifth or sixth in the end and hoped to set some medium-good stagetimes, but we didn’t even dream about two stage wins.

So, what was behind this super-performance? Rumours talk about a Czech mechanic making some kind of dream changes on PG’s car in the service before the second loop of the day, but PG play down the importance of any changes made. He was instead worried going into the second loop, since everyone expected the late runners in the field to have a good advantage over Loeb, Hirvonen and the other early starters in the morning loop – something that didn’t happen. This meant, PG feared being beaten even more going into the afternoon:

- We made a few small changes in the setup in the mid-day break. A small change on the timing in the gear-switch and a few clicks on the rear dampers – but that was in fact just because I had to put in two spare wheels. The big difference was that the surface seemed to match the car better in the second loop and I felt more comfortable. I had started to trust Anders (Fredriksson, stand-in co-driver) totally and I attacked more, keeping better lines and getting more flow.

So, what happened making you have to retire? People have talked about you being off prior to the retirement…

- The clutch broke down, but it had nothing to do with an off. I just touched a snow-bank a while before, but that was on the right hand side and the clutch is to the left, those things had nothing to do with each other. The surroundings of the clutch keeping it in place on the gearbox broke -  even though it was made of titanium! It worked for a short while but then the whole clutch broke out of the axis, and it was finished… Actually we still don’t really know why.

Was it a big disappointment?

- For sure it was a disappointment to retire, but fact is that we had already achieved the most important – the stage wins. Even if we would have finished fifth or sixth, the talk would be about the stage wins – not the final result.

Going into the rally PG told me that after this event all his money was spent, and that he had no further plans. The sad reality have been shown too many times now, that good performances doesn’t at all have to pay off in the WRC of today. So, even though I was pessimistic – I couldn’t wait to ask PG if any new offers had came:

- Team bosses aren’t really chasing with paper and pencil to sign their contracts and there’s no point in even listening to those ones wanting millions from me to drive. But of course it’s better as it is now, to have showed my name in the top. Maybe the world will change and get a little bit more attractive to drivers, and then I’m there. The situation is much better than sitting at home being ice cold on the market…

So, there are no plans for the future?

- Actually Kongsrud (Bernhard Kongsrud, owner of the Fabia) wants me to drive in the Numedalsrallyt running the 7th of March in Norway. So as it looks now, I may be there with the Skoda!

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Posted in National Rallying, WRC | No Comments »

Fantastic Swedish weekend in Norway

Sunday, February 15th, 2009
Sandell/Axelsson, podium, Rally Norway 2009

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…

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Interview: PG looking forward to Rally Norway

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Despite a tight economy, PG Andersson will drive Rally Norway in the same Skoda Fabia WRC as he has used during two rallies in the Norweigan Championship recently.  The Fabia is owned by Norweigan driver Bernhard Kongsrud and has now passed a major overhaul since last time it was used. During Sunday and Monday, PG tested the car in Finnskogen, Norway:

- It worked out quite well. I want to change some small things, but overall it works fine. On Wednesday we will get new differentials delivered, so we will try to fit them on the car before shakedown to test them there. Besides that, it’s the same car as I used in the Norweigan Championship – the only difference is that it’s now completely gone-through and checked.

In 2008, PG was works driver for the Suzuki World Rally Team. However, after just one year of competition – Suzuki decided to close their WRC activity and blamed the financial crisis. Just looking at the chassi, the Skoda Fabia WRC is quite similar to the Suzuki, but we all know that means almost nothing. So, how similar are the two cars? PG answers:

- In size, they’re quite similar and they also have the same type of suspension, so it’s not a major difference – but all cars have their own character. The Skoda has a little bit more torque than the Suzuki, but it lacks a bit of top capacity. Besides that, the Suzuki was more aggressive and therefore harder to drive than the Skoda.

Surprisingly, PG’s regular co-driver Jonas Andersson can’t accompany him in Norway. He is a building worker and got a new employer in December that doesn’t seem to like rallying – despite the building company being Norweigan, Jonas can’t get off-duty. That means that Anders Fredriksson will join PG in the rally. He is not completely new to PG and the Skoda, since he has done quite some rallies with PG before – and also was the first one in the right seat when PG tested the WRC Skoda for the first time.

Yesterday I talked to Patrik Sandell, who said that the new wider Pirelli Sottozero tyres worked good in the tracks but made it really slippery in the snow. PG seems to agree to that, but he doesn’t share Patrik’s theory that the tyres would favour Scandinavians:

- The tyres work really well in the tracks, but as soon as you get out of the track it get’s slippery. Of course it has always been slippery out there, but now it’s even worse than before. Now it has been snowing quite a lot, but I can’t see that it would favour us Scandinavians. I think Loeb and the others can keep into the track too…

Talking about Sandell, some people have speculated on the Fabia Super2000 car being able to beat the Fabia WRC, probably much because of the good initial result of the Proton S2000 in Ireland. However, this seemed to depend much on the tyres in the difficult Ireland conditions – and PG doesn’t give much about the thought about the Fabia S2000 beating the WRC, if nothing happens of course:

- I’m nooot worried, says PG with a laugh.

As I mentioned previously, PG’s start has been surrounded by economical problems. However, those seems to be solved now, but the rest of the season looks dark:

- We’re obviously here and we’re gonna drive – but there wont be any money left after that, is PG’s short answer being questioned by me about the economical situation.

So, what can we expect in Rally Norway? During todays tests, PG drove on the same roads as Petter Solberg on Finnskogen. They did some comparisons and after winning two Norweigan Championship rallies PG seems to look resonably bright on his chances, despite not having a top car:

- Petter did his last run today 4 seconds faster than me with new tyres on a 9 km road, and I set my time using tyres that I had driven on for 100-110 km’s, so it seemed quite okay. The opposition now is of course totally different from the Norweigan Championship rounds I’ve driven, so if I can finish on fifth or sixth position I have to be really satisfied. You can’t really drive away from the Fords and Citroens, so you have to have some luck too. If I can battle somewhere around Mads Östberg I’ll have to be happy…

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Anders Fredriksson jumps in for PG when Jonas Andersson can’t get off work

Monday, February 9th, 2009

PG Andersson’s regular co-driver Jonas Andersson can’t go to Norway because of his new work. Instead Anders Fredriksson, regular co-driver of Swedish group N driver Hans-Erik Weng, jumps in. Anders has actually partnered PG earlier in test with Suzuki – but to jump into the car in a WRC rally must be seen as a major chance for the swede. To PG however it shouldn’t be considered a big chance – rather a big loss. Anders may be good, but of course it’s a drawback not having his regular co-driver since many years in the right seat of the Skoda Fabia WRC. I also think that Anders’ WRC experience is limited or non-existent.

Luckily, the guys does testing in Finnskogen, Norway today and hopefully they get a lot of km’s to build up their cooperation and experience.

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Interview: Patrik Sandell about his first test of the Skoda Fabia Super2000

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

 

Patrik Sandell/Emil Axelsson, Skoda Fabia Super2000

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.

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Posted in Rally testing, Swedish Rallying, WRC | No Comments »

PG in the entrylist for Norway

Wednesday, January 7th, 2009

Well, now Per-Gunnar Andersson is in the entrylist for Rally Norway. He says to Swedish newspaper VF that he’ll probably be doing the rally in Bernhard Kongsrud’s Skoda Fabia WRC, as predicted in my post PG in Norway? a few days ago.

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Posted in Silly season, Swedish Rallying, WRC | No Comments »

PG in Norway?

Monday, January 5th, 2009

Swedish driver PG Andersson is having a hard time since his employer, the Suzuki World Rally Team, left the WRC in the end of 2008. However, PG has been doing (and won) the Norweigan “Romhjulsrallyt” and will do the first round of the Norweigan Championship, Sigdalsrallyt, using the Skoda Fabia WRC of Bernhard Kongsrud.

Now PG is looking for the sponsorship needed to enter the 2nd round of the WRC 2009, Rally Norway, in a Skoda WRC. If not, he will probably enter the group N class in his own Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX. Everything according to VF (swedish newspaper).

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Posted in Silly season, WRC | 1 Comment »