Why did Chris Patterson have to drive in Sweden?

Chris Patterson made surprising debuts as a WRC driver on Sunday afternoon as he took the wheel of the PSWRT’s Citroën DS3 WRC after the final regroup and drove it through the final stage of the Sweden Rally.

Having briefly explained why they had to swap seats on the finish line, Petter Solberg felt the need to clarify it later in the evening. Here are his words:

“ I had an incident in connection with the service Friday pm which delayed my departure from the service station. I was of course eager to arrive at the next start in time, hence I drove too fast and was caught in a police speed check. The police clocked me at a speed of 112 km/hour whereas the speedlimit was 80 km/hour.”

“I was stopped by the police officer and immediately declared myself guilty as charged which meant that the police withdrew my drivers licence. However I, like everyone else, had the right to drive a car for 48 hours after the drivers licence was withdrawn. I was therefore allowed to keep on driving until 14.00 hours on the Sunday but not thereafter. Therefore I and my co-driver Chirs Patterson changed place in the car.”

“After my drivers licence was taken until Sunday 2 pm my co-workers tried to get an exemption so that I could drive the last stage as well but this did not work.”

“I have admitted my fault and will pay the fines. As with all foreign citizens I will be prohibited from driving in Sweden, but only in Sweden, for one to two months. So there are no worries, my dedication
to the continued WRC will remain in full force."