Andersson eyes Sardinia return in Fiesta

PG Andersson is working on a deal to return to the World Rally Championship on Rally d’Italia Sardegna in May.

Andersson drove a Ford Fiesta RS WRC on Rally Sweden last week after more than 400 fans and Swedish businesses got behind him to finance the outing.

The 30-year-old was a sensation on the opening test by going fastest on the Karlstad Super Special Stage, despite only managing a short pre-event test in the M-Sport-supplied machine.

Unfortunately he rolled his car onto its side on the next stage, then picked up a puncture two stages later but not before he had set another fastest stage time, a performance that earned him the prestigious Abu Dhabi Spirit of the Rally accolade.

“After all of the emotions of the rally, my brain is a bit fried,” said Andersson. “I need to think about things, but there’s some money left from this event and we’re looking at Sardinia. I think this can be a good event for me. Obviously, Sweden was disappointing, but I can’t really say this when so many of my fans helped me to get there. I was really down, but seeing so many flags everywhere was really good for me. I have so much to thanks the fans for, they have been fantastic.”

Andersson has been successful in Sardinia previously. He won the Junior World Rally Championship section of the event in 2004 and finished ninth on the gravel contest in 2008 at the wheel of a Suzuki SX4 WRC.

M-Sport managing director Malcolm Wilson admitted he wants to see Andersson back in the Fiesta, he said: “Sweden was a real shame for him, a real rollercoaster. After he put the car on its side and he was a minute down, I still thought he could come back from that, but after the puncture and dropping almost four minutes, that was that. I’d like to support PG, he’s very quick and I’d like to see him in a Fiesta again.”

Wilson added that Andersson would have to make a quick decision over his next event, adding: “The cars are filling up fast and we only have 10 cars. We’ll be full for Portugal and Sardinia’s looking that way already - and we certainly can’t run more than 10 cars.”