Sandell lands maiden S-WRC win in Germany thriller

Patrik Sandell resisted intense pressure from Martin Prokop to claim his first victory in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship after a thrilling battle on Rallye Deutschland today.

Overnight leader P-G Andersson started the final five stages with an advantage of 4.6 seconds over fellow Skoda Fabia driver Sandell with Prokop close behind in his Ford Fiesta.

After Andersson smashed his Skoda’s left-rear wheel landing on a kerb midway through the opening Dhrontal test, Sandell moved into a lead he would never relinquish despite Prokop closing to 3.2s at one stage. Indeed, Prokop could have been closer to Sandell had he not lost five seconds on stage 16 when he overshot a junction braking for a left corner.

“It’s been crazy, absolutely crazy,” said Sandell after winning four of Sunday’s five stages. “We’ve had an incredible battle for three days and the feeling now is absolutely unbelievable. I am so happy with this result and I have to say a big thank you to all of the Red Bull Rallye Team for providing me with such a good car. I came to this rally very confident of a good result and to leave here with this victory means so much.”

Prokop, who finished second, said: “I’m a little disappointed because I only made one mistake in all of the rally. I was at the limit and did everything I could.”

Andersson said he felt “empty” after losing out in victory in the S-WRC division. He added: “It was a bad jump after a right corner, which I had as a caution in my notes. I took too much speed and did not keep to the left enough and when I landed on a kerb it broke the wheel.”

Eyvind Brynildsen looked set for third after Andersson’s stage 15 delay but he was unable to prevent the Swede from powering ahead on stage 18.

Xevi Pons recovered from a puncture to take fifth overall and maintain his lead in the drivers’ standings although the Spaniard was far from happy with his pace during the event in his Fiesta.

“I was not happy with our performance and it’s difficult to explain why,” said Pons, whose lead over Andersson is 13 points.

Michal Kosciuszko restarted under SupeRally regulations on Sunday and finished sixth with Bernardo Sousa battling illness to claim seventh in his Fiesta. Despite struggling with faltering hand controls in his Abarth Grande Punto, Albert Llovera completed the rally in eighth overall.