Rally Paradise, Per-Gunnar Andersson´s Profile

Per-Gunnar Andersson

Per-Gunnar Andersson

Sweden (S)

CAREER PROFILE

1999: Started rallying with VW

2002: Finished 43th in Sweden with Renault on his WRC debut, Drives also with Mitsubishi, Group N Norwegian Champion

2003: Drives Renault, Swedish Super 1600 Champion

2004: Drives Suzuki and Mitsubishi, Junior World Champion

2005: Drives Suzuki

Date of Birth:
1/3/1980 at Karlstad

Marital status:

World Drivers' Champion:
Not yet

Entries of WRC Events

Per-Gunnar Andersson has been driving since he was 15, having started in rallycross. When he was 19 he switched to stage rallying and made rallydebut in 1999 drinving his first few outings and several class wins - in a VW Golf on selected Swedish events.

By the year 2000, the former rallycross driver had moved up into Group N with a SEAT Ibiza in the Swedish cup. It was a tough, learning year for the young Swede, but he was successful enough to develop into a consistent winner the following year, taking three victories.

For 2002, Andersson moved to Norway, winning the N3 class the Norwegian championship in a Group N Renault Clio, along with some class wins back home in Sweden. In Sweden he had too many reteirements to be champion but nobody was able to beat him then he took car to the finnish.

He was a member of the Swedish Junior Rally team and for the season 2003 Jonas Kruse picked up him to drive in the Renault Team Sweden and he took the Swedish Super 1600 Championship title. He had also his first taste of the Junior World Rally Championship, when he drove a Super 1600 car on four events. He stunned the establishment by leading overall in Finland before engine failure stopped his event. He also contested some asphalt rallies to gain experience and showed in Italy and Spain that he is able to drive fast on every surface.

His friend Daniel Carlsson was driving for Suzuki in 2003 and mentioned Andersson´s name to the Suzuki team and they decided to give him a chance to contest the 2004 Junior World Rally Championship driving a Suzuki Ignis and also selected rounds of the Swedish Championship in a 2003 specification Ignis. P-G took his first Junior World Rally Championship win after a tense final leg on the Rally of Turkey, in which leader Mirco Baldacci hit trouble and Finn Kosti Katajamaki pressed Andersson hard. He took the JWRC wins also in Finland and Italy and P-G and his codriver Jonas Andersson became the Junior World Rally champion after the brilliant and spectacular second place in the Rallye Catalunya, the last race of the year. The pre-rally title favourite and Suzuki team-mate Guy Wilks crashed out of a position that would have given him the points he needed to lift the crown, while Renault driver Nicolas Bernardi won the event, but had not accumulated enough points over the season to take the title. Andersson was also honoured with the Rising Star award as part of the Inmarsat WRC Star of 2004 Awards voted for by WRC drivers, co-drivers and team management.

In 2005 he is looking at another season in the JWRC driving Suzuki Super 1600 cars in every round of the series. The main purpose to contest the full programme is to gain more experience of the events and it seems clear that Suzuki is going to move into the World Rally Car category. P-G has said that he does not need to rush from the JWRC to the WRC, because it is better to not make the step up before he is ready. With the help of Suzuki this will happen in the near future.