Andersson buoyed by best performance of season to-date

Andersson travelled to Nyirád – scene of her most recent podium finish in the dual-surface discipline’s top flight 12 months earlier – down in eighth in the standings, but determined to climb the order.

The second-quickest lap time in free practice – behind only seven-time world champion Johan Kristoffersson – marked a positive start, but the Swedish squad was unable to reproduce that form in the races, with Andersson placing fifth in both of Saturday’s heats.

After keeping title-chasing team-mate Niclas Grönholm honest throughout the pair’s heat three contest the following morning, the Löberöd native found herself in the wars in heat four, making a stellar start from the outside of the grid only for a first corner crunch to send her spinning spectacularly backwards through the gap in the barriers.

Despite a rapid recovery, the damage in terms of the loss of time was done, but Andersson subsequently progressed safely through her semi-final to line up fourth on the grid for the all-important final at the dust-heavy ‘Red Cauldron’.

After losing out on the opening lap, she overhauled Juha Rytkönen in the joker to reclaim her starting position and thereafter produced a confident and competitive display to take the chequered flag fourth – moving up to equal-sixth in the championship classification in the process.

“Every round gives us more to build on,” reflected the 25-year-old Swedish star. “We had a great feeling in free practice, but for some reason we weren’t able to match that pace in Saturday’s two heats, which led to a long and busy evening trying to figure out how to come back stronger on Sunday.

“As a team, we executed the semi-final perfectly but unfortunately, we couldn’t find a gap through Turns One and Two at the start of the final and had to go the long way around the outside. That ultimately cost us too much time to fight for the podium, but P4 wasn’t too bad.

“Nyirád is one of the coolest rallycross tracks in the world and I hope we’ll be back there again soon. In the meantime, it’s all about digging into the small details with the car to make sure we’re ready to battle at the front in Finland in a few weeks. We’re working hard, and the next win is within reach.”