Fans rally around for Andersson’s Swedish entry

P-G Andersson will drive a Ford Fiesta RS WRC on next month’s Rally Sweden - but only after his fans stepped in to find the money for him to compete.

Andersson has put himself a speculative entry in for his home event, the opening round of the World Rally Championship, but said he thought his chance had passed when the deals he was working on fell through.

“On Tuesday last week, it was dead,” said Andersson, who drove for the Stobart M-Sport Ford team in Bulgaria last year. “I was not doing Sweden, everything had fallen apart. Then, on the Wednesday, somebody contacted me to ask for my bank account number. They said there were some fans who wanted to help. I thought: “I have nothing to lose.” So I gave them the number, which was then circulated on facebook.”

Over the next two days, Andersson watched his bank account slowly filling up, allowing him to contact M-Sport and secure a Fiesta for the Karlstad-based event.

“I still need a little bit more money,” said Andersson. “But the deal is done and I will drive the car in Sweden. It’s fantastic to be out on that opening event, it’s very important for me. After Sweden there’s nothing in the WRC, but to be there on the first event with the next generation of World Rally Cars is great news. I have to say a big thank you to everybody who has helped me with this, there have been a lot of fellow rally drivers from Sweden who have put money in.”

Andersson’s entry means 13 World Rally Cars will start Rally Sweden, nine of them being Fords.

The 30-year-old has tackled his home WRC round six times before, with his best result being the 10th place - and Super 2000 WRC win - he scored 12 months ago.