Sandell and Red Bull aim for Teams’ Cup in Britain

Swedish driver Patrik Sandell is aiming to clinch the Teams’ Cup in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship in his Skoda Fabia S2000 backed by Red Bull.

Sandell came into the Rally Great Britain with a chance of lifting the drivers’ championship, but his hopes were hit by a power steering problem that caused him to drop five minutes in the afternoon of day one.

Undeterred, the Red Bull driver returned to action today with a car that was once more perfect, for nine demanding stages around South Wales. Sandell steadily made his way back up the leaderboard, and his objective is now to clinch the Teams’ Cup, awarded to the best performing Super 2000 team over the course of the year.

Rally Great Britain, the final round of the championship this year, is a gravel event but several of today’s stages contained asphalt sections that were made extremely slippery by mud on the road.

Despite the inconsistent grip, Sandell set top three times all morning to climb to sixth in the Super 2000 World Championship classification by lunchtime. In the afternoon he made up another place, putting himself firmly on track to clinch the Teams’ Cup for the Red Bull-backed BRR squad, run by multiple Austrian Champion Raimund Baumschlager - who himself has tasted plenty of rally success with Red Bull.

When conditions are mixed, Sandell is often at his best and once more he made no mistakes throughout the day, which took in nine stages and concluded with a popular spectator superspecial in Cardiff Bay.

"After what happened yesterday, we had no choice but to go for it," said the 28-year-old, who won the Junior World Rally Championship in 2006. "In some ways that made it a bit easier as we didn’t have to think about any tactics: it was just a question of going as fast as possible. With the asphalt sections today it was quite tricky, but I really enjoyed these stages and I really want to see if we can secure the Teams’ Cup for Red Bull."

Baumschlager, whose team has historically been associated with Red Bull, commented: "Patrik has driven very well today and the Teams’ Cup is a very nice challenge for us now. Rallying is very much a team effort, so it would be a really nice reward for everyone if we were able to do it. We still have four complicated stages tomorrow, with uncertain weather, so it is very important for us to stay concentrated but so far we are on track."

The final day of the rally takes in 76.14 competitive kilometres, with the first stage starting at 0747. The winner is expected on the finish ramp in Cardiff just before 1500.