Per-Gunnar Andersson (rally driver)
Per- Gunnar "PG" Andersson ( born March 10, 1980 in Årjäng ) is a Swedish rally driver.
- 2.1 Title
- 2.2 WRC results
- 2.3 IRC results
Career
Beginnings in rallying
Per- Gunnar Andersson began his motor racing career at the age of 15 years. With a Saab 99 he went Folkrace, disseminated in Sweden basic version of Rallycross. In 1999, he played with a VW Golf I his first rallies. In autumn 1999 he bought a Seat Ibiza GTi 16V the group N, with which he departed in the next two years to rallies. After the autumn was running unsuccessfully in 2001, he earned a Renault Clio RS Group N, with the 2002 einstellten immediately good results. Each in the group N, he won the Norwegian Rally Championship and was runner-up of the Swedish Rally Championship. He also made his debut in the Rally of Sweden in the World Rally Championship. In 2003 he moved to a Renault Clio Super 1600 class and chose the Swedish Rally Championship in this category in itself. He also took part in the second half to four rallies in the WRC. In the Rally Finland, he was up to his retirement the best-placed driver with a Super 1600 car. The best result he achieved a 19th place overall in the Rally of San Remo.
JWRC with Suzuki
2004 Andersson received a cockpit in the team of Suzuki Sport Europe. With a Suzuki Ignis S1600 for the first time he played a full season in the World Rally Junior World Championship. He scored JWRC victory in the Rally of Turkey, Rally Finland and Rally Sardinia, where he was in ninth place in the standings also within reach of the WRC- points finish. With a two point lead at the end of the season, he finished first place in the points classification of the JWRC and celebrated his first title as a rally Junior World Champion. Besides, he also went further in the Swedish Rally Championship and defended his title there in the super class 1600 with a clear point lead.
Suzuki sat Andersson in the 2005 season in addition to the rallies with JWRC rating also in almost all other races of the world championship one. After the season had initially started only partly successful for him, he scored in the Rally of Greece his first JWRC victory this year. Then Suzuki asked him a Suzuki Swift S1600 available. Good results remained with the new vehicle initially and he finished the season in sixth place in the Rally World Youth Championship.
At the season opener of the Rally World Youth Championship 2006, Rally Sweden, Andersson won first JWRC victory with the Suzuki Swift S1600. Also, following rallies he finished in the front ranks of the points JWRC. The Rally of Turkey Andersson was again fastest JWRC pilot and could have prematurely secure the title with the victory. However, he was subsequently excluded from the evaluation, since he had taken allegedly improper assistance service work to complete. An appeal was unsuccessful. Since then he had to record a loss in the season finale, he had to be in the fight for the title but give even a close second. In between undertook Andersson also guest starts for Bryntesson Motorsport in some race of the Camaro Cup. He achieved top rankings and thus secured a permanent place in the team for the following season.
2007 Andersson was continued for Suzuki Sport Europe in the JWRC at the start. At the start of the season he won the JWRC rating Rally Sweden. There were other class victories at the Rally Portugal and the Rally Catalunya. Although he had to skip two rallies because of the loss of his driving license, he collected the most points and was again after 2004 Rally World Junior Champion. Thus he became the first rider to twice win the JWRC. In the Camaro Cup, he won five races and finished on the end of the season second overall.
With the Suzuki SX4 WRC in
Andersson was 2008 factory driver in the Suzuki World Rally Team and received a cockpit in the new Suzuki SX4 WRC. At the season opener, the Monte Carlo Rally, he went straight to his first rally with a World Rally Car on the eighth place in the overall standings. He scored his first WRC point and at the same time the first WRC points for Suzuki. In the following years several technical defects prevented good rankings. His vehicle was but continuously developed and it gained speed and reliability. From the last third of the season Andersson was able to drive into the points again. He finished sixth at the Rally New Zealand. Then he reached in the Rally Japan with fifth place his best ever WRC result. At the final rally Wales, he was able to repeat the fifth. At the end of the season, he finished with twelve points the twelfth championship course. However, Suzuki ended after the 2008 season after just one season back its involvement in the WRC, which is why Andersson himself had to find a new employer.
Again, without a fixed cockpit
In a privately entered Škoda Fabia WRC Andersson took part in the Rally Norway 2009 part. He drove the vehicle aged surprisingly two WP- best times and was meanwhile in fifth place. Because of a clutch damage he had to give up later, however. Other missions in the WRC he did not come in 2009. In the rest of the season, he took part in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX Group N at the Swedish Rally Championship. He reached four overall victories and won through against World Rally Cars by. For the title in the Group N he had still not collected enough points, because he had not participated in the season opener.
At the start of the season in 2010 Andersson played with a Škoda Fabia S2000 of JM Engineering at the Rally Sweden for the first time after a year a WRC rally. He reached with the tenth overall a WRC point and also won the SWRC standings, which was first held at this rally. He subsequently received an offer of call sports to participate with their Skoda Fabia S2000 at several other WRC rallies. Here he succeeded in several top rankings in the SWRC and he scored in the Rally of Finland again a WRC point. At the Rally Sardinia also he was in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X made his debut in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Andersson's season highlight was a guest appearance in the Ford Focus RS WRC 08 of Stobart team at Rally Bulgaria 2010., Where he finished seventh and thus scored six WRC points. The season he finished with eight points in 13th place in the Drivers' Championship WRC. In the overall standings of the SWRC, he finished at the end of the season despite several good results only in ninth place. These had led that the points have been removed from his last four driven rallies because he did not compete for Rally Japan.
Factory driver at Proton
Before the 2011 season, Andersson negotiated with Ford and Mini via a cockpit in a World Rally Car, but the negotiations were unsuccessful. Finally he got a Proton Satria Neo S2000 in the use of proton - factory teams in the Rally Monte Carlo 2011 delivers. Despite an accident at this rally, he was then of a proton work contract for the full season in the IRC. Donations of his fans also enabled him to participate in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC Stobart at the Rally Sweden 2011. These he finished after four WP- best times and a brief lead, but also some incidents, in seventh place. For the start of the Rally Sardinia he got enough money together again. For his third race in the WRC 2011, he came in Subaru Impreza R4 of Tommi Mäkinen Racing at the Rally Finland.
Statistics
Title
- Norwegian Rally Championship (Group N): 2002
- Swedish Rally Championship (Super 1600): 2003, 2004
- Rally World Youth Championship: 2004, 2007