Per-Gunnar Andersson (rally Driver) - Career

Career

P.G. Andersson was competing in Junior World Rally Championship since 2003. He became JWRC champion in his first complete season, season 2004, piloting a Suzuki Ignis S1600, with 2 wins, 2nd place, 8th place and two retirements. He scored 39 points during this year and runner-up Nicolas Bernardi piloting Renault Clio S1600 scored only 2 points less.

In 2005 season, Andersson continued competing in JWRC with Suzuki Ignis S1600 and later Suzuki Swift S1600. Although he won Rally Acropolis, rest of season wasn't that successful and in final standings Andersson finished 6th with 30 points.

In 2006, Andersson was still racing in JWRC with Suzuki Swift S1600. He won Rally Sweden but was also excluded from Rally Turkey and crashed at Rally GB. He finished season as 3rd with 29 points, 2nd was Urmo Aava also with Suzuki Swift S1600 and 31 points, Patrik Sandell became JWRC champion with Renault Clio S1600 and 32 points.

In 2007 Per Gunnar Andersson became Junior World Rally Champion for 2nd time with a Suzuki Swift S1600. Andersson won 3 rallies, scored one 2nd place and one 4th place. Runner-up was Urmo Aava with Suzuki Swift S1600 and 3rd was Martin Prokop with Citroen C2 S1600.

With two JWRC titles he was finally chosen by factory WRC team. Suzuki World Rally Team in the 2008 season. He started the season by finishing eighth at the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally in his first rally in a World Rally Car. He was suffering from many mistakes and retirements during the season, finishing at points only 4 times. His best result came in last two rallies of season, 5th places at Rally Japan and Rally GB.

After the withdrawal of the Suzuki team at the end of 2008, Andersson was left without a regular drive for 2009. A drive in an ageing Škoda Fabia at Rally Norway saw two stage wins and a place in the top six on the first day before clutch problems forced him to retire. After that Andersson participated only at few local rallies and prepared for next season.

2010 P.G. Andersson was racing in SWRC with Škoda Fabia S2000, and won SWRC Rally Sweden. Although he was later removed from SWRC 2010 standigs and just his victory at Sweden is counted. He also raced with Ford Focus WRC at Rally Bulgaria for Stobart WRT, finished 7th.

In 2011, Andersson competed in 2 WRC events with a Ford Fiesta RS WRC, finishing 7th in Sweden and 15th in Italy. He drove Tommi Mäkinen Racing's Subaru Impreza STi R4 on Rally Finland, finishing 15th. He was also signed by Proton Motorsport to drive one of the Satria Neo S2000s in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The team's season was full of mechanical failures, and the competitiveness of the car was also poor compared to rivals (ie. Skoda Fabia S2000, Peugeot 207 S2000); he only scored points on the Barum Czech Rally Zlín, finishing ninth.

As for 2012, Proton decided to enter the S2000 World Rally Championship (SWRC), with Andersson as their number 1 driver. The season started off bittersweet, with PG leading almost till the end of the Monte Carlo Rallye, but he was forced to retire due to fire. In Sweden, he bounced back, and won the SWRC category. He followed this up with a second place in New Zealand, and with a win in Finland. However, due to various problems and retirements in Wales and France, Craig Breen passed Andersson to claim the lead of the category, and with PG unable to win in Spain, he only finished runner-up to the Irishman, although this was Proton's best result since winning the PWRC in 2002.

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