Sweden Rally 2006: Finish / JWRC - Summary
2004 J-WRC champion P-G Andersson (S) and co-driver Jonas Andersson (S) fought hard with fellow nationals for victory on home snow, on the opening round of the FIA Junior World Rally Championship, Uddeholm Swedish Rally, with Andersson`s experience proving favourable over reigning Swedish Renault Clio Cup champion Patrik Sandell (S) who finished second in his Clio. On his J-WRC debut, Sandell was relentless in chasing Andersson, indicating there`s a lot more to come from the Swedish youngster throughout the season.
After Peter Zachrisson`s (S, Suzuki) demise on leg two, Estonian Urmo Aava (Suzuki), who hasn`t contested a snow rally since 2002, adopted the final podium spot after a trouble-free event, despite struggling to work out why he couldn`t set faster times. Zachrisson was entered as a guest driver by the event organisers, specifically for the Swedish Rally, and held third place behind his fellow Swedes until he hit something in a snow bank on stage 11 and spun his car off the road, but a return to the action on the final day saw him eventually finish seventh.

With the frontrunners so far ahead, Pavel Valousek (CZ, Suzuki) and Kalle Pinomäki (FIN, Renault Clio Ragnotti) had their own battle for supremacy. Both remained free of mechanical problems, the only issue for the Finn, competing in a Group N3 Clio, was that he struggled to set times competitive to those of the Super 1600 cars on the second run through stages where there was a higher percentage of gravel and eventually Valousek came out the better off in fourth. As top runner in a non-S1600 car, Pinomäki also scores highest points for Rookie of the Rally.

Jozef Béreš (SK, Suzuki), one of the more experienced newcomers to the J-WRC this year, struggled with heavy tyre wear, often finishing a group of stages with few studs left, as well as a broken intercom, an iced windscreen and an off-road excursion on the final day, but the 2005 East European Cup champion made use of previous WRC experience to finish sixth in his Ignis.

Polish driver Michal Kosciuszko (Suzuki) made his snow rally debut in Sweden. He parked his Ignis in a snow bank on a couple of occasions, losing time in the process and remained focused on staying trouble-free to record a finish and take the last available point behind Zachrisson for eighth.

Guy Wilks (GB, Suzuki), like Aava, didn`t feel his efforts were justly reflected in his stage times initially, but he struggled after a driveshaft popped out of one side of the gearbox early on leg two and then the Brit took a dive into a snow bank which cost him the best part of 20 minutes on stage eight. Renewed motivation on the final day saw the Brit pull back, taking two stage wins to finally finish in ninth.

Jaan Mölder (EE, Ford) was plagued with gear-changing problems after a bolt on his gearshift broke on day one and he was forced to continue through the first two days with a variety of gears. Remarkably, the youngest competitor in the J-WRC proved his maturity by battling through his problems, including a broken handbrake and clutch on the final day, marking a welcomed finish for the Fiesta Super 1600 on its return to J-WRC action since its redevelopment.

Martin Prokop (CZ, Citroën) is on his second year in J-WRC, driving the winning C2 of Citroën`s reigning Junior Champion Sordo. A heavy roll and subsequent electrical problem on leg two prevented a strong finish for Czech driver, but he restarted on the final day to eventually finish 11th.

Johan Karlsson (S, Peugeot), the second Swedish Rally-entered guest driver went off the road at the start of leg two but after repairing damage and restarting, he eventually finish the event in 12th.

Filippo Bordignon (I, Opel) drove steadily throughout but found it difficult driving through stages run in the dark, especially when the light pod of his Opel Astra OPC didn`t work at the end of the first day. The start of leg two saw a complete loss of engine oil and resulted in a 10sec penalty for leaving service late and to add insult to injury, the car overheated on SS11 when the water temperature reached 120˚C. Extensive tyre wear and a lack of studs as a result was the cause of fellow Italian Andrea Cortinovis` (Renault) woes on the first ever WRC event of his career and after a couple of off-road excursions on the final day he was simply pleased to finish the event.

In the overall standings of the event no less than six of the top ten drivers are J-WRC graduates.

P-G Andersson (S), Suzuki Swift S1600
“It`s been a perfect weekend for me from the start on Friday to the finish and 10 points is the best start to the season. It`s been quite an easy rally but Patrik put a lot of pressure on me early on. I was still confident but I knew I couldn`t back off too much. I had a really good feeling and my mind was very focussed.”

Patrik Sandell (S), Renault Clio S1600
“I`ve really enjoyed this rally. I knew I could do well but after day two I knew I couldn`t challenge P-G for victory as he wasn`t making any mistakes but I`m really happy with second and it`s a fantastic start to the season for me.”

Urmo Aava (EE), Suzuki Swift S1600
“After the first day I realised that I wasn`t going to be able to challenge for one of the top two positions. I understand that you need local knowledge to really do well and to set fast times on the long stages with fast corners you have to know precisely how fast you can go. Before the event I thought I could do better but third isn`t bad.”

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