SUNDAY FEBRUARY 14 2010
Driving a Skoda Fabia S2000, Sandell produced an impressive finish to the three-day event, which concluded with five snow-covered stages, the last of which was shown live on Swedish television.
Sandell, 27, lost time with a succession of problems on the opening day, which included breaking reverse gear and losing the studs out of his snow tyres.
On the second and third days however, the former Junior world rally champion recovered to make strong progress up the leaderboard, ending the rally in 15th overall in a highly-competitive field in front of his enthusiastic countrymen, who lined the rally route in their thousands and gave tremendous vocal support.
“Today has been a very good day for Emil and me and everything worked well with our Red Bull Rally Team Skoda Fabia,” said Sandell. “After the first day when everything seemed to go wrong we’ve come back strongly and scored a good result. I just wish the rally could have started again today because there have been no problems for us, which has been such a relief. It’s too bad the rest of the rally wasn’t like this.”
Sandell is contesting the new SWRC category this season and said the capture of 12 championship points will be vital to his chances of securing the coveted title: “It was important to start the season with some points. Obviously I wish I had scored the maximum 25 points but there is a long way to go this season and I know that things can only improve.”
Sandell’s seven-event SWRC title challenge resumes in the baking sunshine of Jordan in early April when the world championship circus returns to the Middle East for the first time since 2008.
As well as picking up fourth-place SWRC points, Sandell’s performance earned the Red Bull Rally Team third position in the FIA Cup for S2000 Teams. It was a result that pleased team manager Raimund Baumschlager.
“Without the problems I am sure Patrik could have fought for victory here because he’s always very quick on his home rally,” said Baumschlager. “But he did not lose his belief and completed the final day without any problems.”
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 13 2010
The Swedish duo is contesting the newly-formed 2010 FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SRWC) this year in a Skoda Fabia S2000 and they end day two with a strong fourth place in their class.
With a new gearbox fitted at the final service halt last night, Sandell’s Skoda ran impeccably throughout the day’s seven stages – which concluded with a run through the short Hagfors Sprint superspecial, located close to the service park.
Although this is just the opening round of the new SWRC, it has already proved to be extremely competitive, with Patrik having to face a number of other local specialists using top cars in a fierce battle for supremacy. The weather conditions remained dry and bright all day, with temperatures in the region of -15C centigrade. On the second run through the icy stages, the road surface began to degrade, exposing several treacherous patches of loose gravel.
On snow rallies, the cars run on studded tyres, with up to 400 spikes embedded in the rubber to bite into the ice. But when the surfaces become more gravelly, these studs are ripped out of the tyres – depriving the car of grip.
This was the only real problem that Sandell, a former Junior World Rally Champion, faced during the afternoon. Nonetheless the 27-year-old set competitive times to put himself in a position to strike for a podium on the final day tomorrow, if things go his way.
“We lost too much time yesterday with various problems to hope for a really good result, but you never know what can happen in rallying,” said Sandell. “We need to keep the pressure on now in order to take advantage of any mishaps for our rivals. Today was a good day; we started off with a good feeling and enjoyed a trouble-free drive with no problems at all. If we can have the same feeling tomorrow, then we can come away from here with some useful points.”
His team boss, multiple Austrian Rally Champion Raimund Baumschlager, added: “I’m pleased that Patrik has been able to put yesterday behind him and concentrate on doing a good job today. Although this rally has not gone completely the way we would have wanted for him, there is a lot that we can still salvage and it is very important now to ensure a good points finish tomorrow. At the moment he is fourth, but third is not impossible if any of his rivals hit problems.”
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12 2010
The 21-stage rally got underway yesterday with a spectacular super special stage near the town of Karlstad, the traditional headquarters for Rally Sweden. Sandell was driving his Red Bull-backed Skoda Fabia Super 2000 car for the first time, and set the 14th-quickest time in his class on the trotting track stage – which saw the cars go head-to-head in front of thousands of excited fans.
When it came to the first of the proper stages, on Friday morning, the Swede did not get off to such a good start. He stalled at the start of the first two stages and then felt that he was lacking in confidence over the whole of the morning loop of three speed tests. When he came back to service, his mechanics made a few changes to the car that gave him more confidence over the four remaining stages in the afternoon.
“Normally I’m a very positive person,” said the 27-year-old, who won the Junior world title in 2006. “But for once I didn’t feel I had too much to smile about after today!
For some reason I wasn’t able to attack as much as I wanted to in the morning and I’m annoyed with myself for stalling the engine so much. But I’m still getting used to the car and after we made a few changes to the dampers it was a little bit better.
But then we had more problems in the afternoon; we had a spin and broke reverse gear trying to recover, which cost us a lot of time and we also had difficulty keeping the studs in the tyres. To be honest, we’ve not had a single stage that went right for us. But this can happen in rallying; tomorrow we need to refocus and concentrate on another day.”
His team boss, multiple Austrian Rally Champion Raimund Baumschlager, added: “In rallying, like life, you have good days and bad days – and this was a bad day for Patrik. But he is experienced enough to know how to put this behind him, so we look forward to seeing him on top form again during the second day tomorrow.”
Patrik ends the day 15th overall and fifth in the Super 2000 classification. Twelve stages are left to run over the two days that remain of the event.
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11 2010
The two Swedes Patrik Sandell/Emil Axelsson will start the 2010 World Rally Championship or, more precisely, the 2010 FIA Super World Rally Championship (SRWC) in their brand new Skoda Fabia Super 2000 on well-known terrain.
Last year it was Rally Norway which preceded the rallying calendar.
This time the rally crews will once again start their hunt for the title in Sweden.
The attractive high-speed roads in the extended vicinity of the rally’s home base in Karlstad are the ideal surroundings for a perfect assault on the 2010 SWRC for Sandell/Axelsson.
21 special stages are to be run, covering a total of 345.15 kilometres. His royal highness Prince Carl Philip will carry out the start to the super special stage in person on Thursday evening – probably a royal experience for all rally drivers.
Sandell/Axelsson rank among the top favourites not just in Sweden, but also as far as the 2010 SWRC title is concerned.
The two also won last year’s WRC season opener.
Baumschlager: “The two will have to deal with this pressure this year. The equipment is bang on, as is the experience with the team. This year’s target can only be the title, in spite of the strongest competition.”
Patrik Sandell: “I’m looking forward to the season finally starting, especially in my immediate home of Sweden. We will of course try to measure up to the great expectations – and one of those is of course a faultless, perfect start to this year!”
MONDAY FEBRUARY 8 2010
- There’s been a lot snow in Sweden this winter, so the roads will be narrower and therefore slower than we’re used to. But it’s still going to be a fast rally, so we used a quite quick road for the test today, says Patrik Sandell.
- The test went really well. We did a rally here in Norway last weekend, which was good for getting the speed up. So today we could focus on the car and finding the right set-up rather than finding the speed ourselves.
- The competition we’re facing in Sweden will probably be the toughest ever for us. PG Andersson, who’s driving a Skoda Fabia just like us, will be really quick. I guess he will be our main competitor. But Prokop and Tuohino will also be battling for the points, says Patrik Sandell.
The Swedish Rally kicks off with a super-special Thursday night. Sunday afternoon the cars cross the finish line, after completing 21 special stages.
Sandell and Axelsson complete Rally Sweden. Points are points
The Red Bull crew of Patrik Sandell (S) and his co-driver Emil Axelsson (S) have finished the opening round of the 2010 FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC) in Sweden with a strong fourth place in their class.
Driving a Skoda Fabia S2000, Sandell produced an impressive finish to the three-day event, which concluded with five snow-covered stages, the last of which was shown live on Swedish television.
Sandell, 27, lost time with a succession of problems on the opening day, which included breaking reverse gear and losing the studs out of his snow tyres.
On the second and third days however, the former Junior world rally champion recovered to make strong progress up the leaderboard, ending the rally in 15th overall in a highly-competitive field in front of his enthusiastic countrymen, who lined the rally route in their thousands and gave tremendous vocal support.
“Today has been a very good day for Emil and me and everything worked well with our Red Bull Rally Team Skoda Fabia,” said Sandell. “After the first day when everything seemed to go wrong we’ve come back strongly and scored a good result. I just wish the rally could have started again today because there have been no problems for us, which has been such a relief. It’s too bad the rest of the rally wasn’t like this.”
Sandell is contesting the new SWRC category this season and said the capture of 12 championship points will be vital to his chances of securing the coveted title: “It was important to start the season with some points. Obviously I wish I had scored the maximum 25 points but there is a long way to go this season and I know that things can only improve.”
Sandell’s seven-event SWRC title challenge resumes in the baking sunshine of Jordan in early April when the world championship circus returns to the Middle East for the first time since 2008.
As well as picking up fourth-place SWRC points, Sandell’s performance earned the Red Bull Rally Team third position in the FIA Cup for S2000 Teams. It was a result that pleased team manager Raimund Baumschlager.
“Without the problems I am sure Patrik could have fought for victory here because he’s always very quick on his home rally,” said Baumschlager. “But he did not lose his belief and completed the final day without any problems.”
Sandell and Axelsson improve their prospects on Rally Sweden
After a tricky opening day on the Rally Sweden, Red Bull-backed driver Patrik Sandell (S) and his co-driver Emil Axelsson (S) have enjoyed the second day of this snowy event, which took in some classic fast and flowing stages such as Sagen, run in front of thousands of excited spectators.
The Swedish duo is contesting the newly-formed 2010 FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SRWC) this year in a Skoda Fabia S2000 and they end day two with a strong fourth place in their class.
With a new gearbox fitted at the final service halt last night, Sandell’s Skoda ran impeccably throughout the day’s seven stages – which concluded with a run through the short Hagfors Sprint superspecial, located close to the service park.
Although this is just the opening round of the new SWRC, it has already proved to be extremely competitive, with Patrik having to face a number of other local specialists using top cars in a fierce battle for supremacy. The weather conditions remained dry and bright all day, with temperatures in the region of -15C centigrade. On the second run through the icy stages, the road surface began to degrade, exposing several treacherous patches of loose gravel.
On snow rallies, the cars run on studded tyres, with up to 400 spikes embedded in the rubber to bite into the ice. But when the surfaces become more gravelly, these studs are ripped out of the tyres – depriving the car of grip.
This was the only real problem that Sandell, a former Junior World Rally Champion, faced during the afternoon. Nonetheless the 27-year-old set competitive times to put himself in a position to strike for a podium on the final day tomorrow, if things go his way.
“We lost too much time yesterday with various problems to hope for a really good result, but you never know what can happen in rallying,” said Sandell. “We need to keep the pressure on now in order to take advantage of any mishaps for our rivals. Today was a good day; we started off with a good feeling and enjoyed a trouble-free drive with no problems at all. If we can have the same feeling tomorrow, then we can come away from here with some useful points.”
His team boss, multiple Austrian Rally Champion Raimund Baumschlager, added: “I’m pleased that Patrik has been able to put yesterday behind him and concentrate on doing a good job today. Although this rally has not gone completely the way we would have wanted for him, there is a lot that we can still salvage and it is very important now to ensure a good points finish tomorrow. At the moment he is fourth, but third is not impossible if any of his rivals hit problems.”
A solid start on Rally Sweden
Former Junior World Rally Champion Patrik Sandell (S) and his co-driver Emil Axelsson (S) have made a solid start to the opening round of the 2010 FIA Super 2000 World Rally Championship (SRWC) – which is also their home event.
The 21-stage rally got underway yesterday with a spectacular super special stage near the town of Karlstad, the traditional headquarters for Rally Sweden. Sandell was driving his Red Bull-backed Skoda Fabia Super 2000 car for the first time, and set the 14th-quickest time in his class on the trotting track stage – which saw the cars go head-to-head in front of thousands of excited fans.
When it came to the first of the proper stages, on Friday morning, the Swede did not get off to such a good start. He stalled at the start of the first two stages and then felt that he was lacking in confidence over the whole of the morning loop of three speed tests. When he came back to service, his mechanics made a few changes to the car that gave him more confidence over the four remaining stages in the afternoon.
“Normally I’m a very positive person,” said the 27-year-old, who won the Junior world title in 2006. “But for once I didn’t feel I had too much to smile about after today!
For some reason I wasn’t able to attack as much as I wanted to in the morning and I’m annoyed with myself for stalling the engine so much. But I’m still getting used to the car and after we made a few changes to the dampers it was a little bit better.
But then we had more problems in the afternoon; we had a spin and broke reverse gear trying to recover, which cost us a lot of time and we also had difficulty keeping the studs in the tyres. To be honest, we’ve not had a single stage that went right for us. But this can happen in rallying; tomorrow we need to refocus and concentrate on another day.”
His team boss, multiple Austrian Rally Champion Raimund Baumschlager, added: “In rallying, like life, you have good days and bad days – and this was a bad day for Patrik. But he is experienced enough to know how to put this behind him, so we look forward to seeing him on top form again during the second day tomorrow.”
Patrik ends the day 15th overall and fifth in the Super 2000 classification. Twelve stages are left to run over the two days that remain of the event.
A home event as the season opener.
The favoured Red Bull Rally Team of Patrik Sandell (SWE)/Emil Axelsson (SWE), Skoda Fabia Super 2000, wants a win in the first round of the world championship. The title continues to be this year’s objective as well.
The two Swedes Patrik Sandell/Emil Axelsson will start the 2010 World Rally Championship or, more precisely, the 2010 FIA Super World Rally Championship (SRWC) in their brand new Skoda Fabia Super 2000 on well-known terrain.
Last year it was Rally Norway which preceded the rallying calendar.
This time the rally crews will once again start their hunt for the title in Sweden.
The attractive high-speed roads in the extended vicinity of the rally’s home base in Karlstad are the ideal surroundings for a perfect assault on the 2010 SWRC for Sandell/Axelsson.
21 special stages are to be run, covering a total of 345.15 kilometres. His royal highness Prince Carl Philip will carry out the start to the super special stage in person on Thursday evening – probably a royal experience for all rally drivers.
Sandell/Axelsson rank among the top favourites not just in Sweden, but also as far as the 2010 SWRC title is concerned.
The two also won last year’s WRC season opener.
Baumschlager: “The two will have to deal with this pressure this year. The equipment is bang on, as is the experience with the team. This year’s target can only be the title, in spite of the strongest competition.”
Patrik Sandell: “I’m looking forward to the season finally starting, especially in my immediate home of Sweden. We will of course try to measure up to the great expectations – and one of those is of course a faultless, perfect start to this year!”
Getting prepared for Sweden, in Norway
With just a few days until Uddeholm Swedish Rally and the season premiere, The Red Bull Rally Team did a last test in Norway, in similar conditions as expected when they travel across the border into Sweden later this week.
- There’s been a lot snow in Sweden this winter, so the roads will be narrower and therefore slower than we’re used to. But it’s still going to be a fast rally, so we used a quite quick road for the test today, says Patrik Sandell.
- The test went really well. We did a rally here in Norway last weekend, which was good for getting the speed up. So today we could focus on the car and finding the right set-up rather than finding the speed ourselves.
- The competition we’re facing in Sweden will probably be the toughest ever for us. PG Andersson, who’s driving a Skoda Fabia just like us, will be really quick. I guess he will be our main competitor. But Prokop and Tuohino will also be battling for the points, says Patrik Sandell.
The Swedish Rally kicks off with a super-special Thursday night. Sunday afternoon the cars cross the finish line, after completing 21 special stages.
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