PG Andersson becomes 100th Supercar driver to enter World RX
Sweden's PG Andersson has confirmed he will compete at round nine of the FIA World Rallycross Championship presented by Monster Energy, which will be staged at Estering in Germany from 20-21 September. Andersson's participation means he becomes the 100th driver to have entered the headline Supercar category in World RX this season: a remarkable achievement considering RX is only in its first year as an FIA World Championship.
PG Andersson is best known for his rallying exploits where he contested more than 70 WRC events. He is also a two-time winner of the competitive Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC), which Team EKS RX driver Pontus Tidemand won last year. The Swede will join Hedstroms Motorsport for his World RX debut, and will field a second Skoda Fabia Supercar alongside Euro RX driver Peter Hedstrom.
"I've been away from motorsport for about a year now as I've been busy with work, my family and building a house so when I got the call from Peter Hedstrom I thought it was a great opportunity," explained Andersson, who drove a Hedstroms Fabia at Holjes RX in 2012 and was running second in the final until a puncture forced him to stop.
The 34-year-old continued: "I've seen how popular rallycross - and World RX as a Championship - has become and I would love to compete properly next year. The level of the teams and drivers is really high so it will not be easy to fight for one of the top spots in Germany but I will give it a go and see what happens. Last week I raced in the final round of the Swedish Rallycross Championship at Solvalla as part of a test - we had a few problems but it seems that everything is sorted now. Before Germany Peter and I will have another short test and I hope to get good feel for the car then. I can't wait to get behind the wheel of the Supercar at my first World RX event."
Martin Anayi, World RX Managing Director for IMG Motorsport, added: "We have several drivers who have competed in WRC and done exceptionally well in RX including our current Championship leader Petter Solberg and the likes of Pontus Tidemand and Ken Block. There are definitely several skills gained from rallying that can be transferred to RX, and as long as PG feels confident in the car and can get used to the fact that he is racing head-to-head with several other drivers simultaneously then he has the potential to do very well. It's incredible that PG will also be the 100th driver to enter World RX in a Supercar this year - the Championship is growing at an extraordinary pace and with talented drivers such as PG coming on board, it's set to grow even bigger."