Sweden’s Per-Gunnar Andersson has signed to drive for PROTON Motorsports in this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
The 30-year-old made his debut with the team on the Monte Carlo Rally, round one of the IRC, this week and is looking forward to driving the Satria Neo S2000 throughout 2011.
“It’s fantastic to have a season of driving confirmed,” said Andersson. “The Satria is a great car and to have the chance to be working with a manufacturer like PROTON is very good news for me. There is some work to do with the car, we know that, but in the short time I have been with the team preparing for Monte Carlo, we have made some big steps forward and I have every confidence that working with Chris [Mellors, team principal] and the whole of PROTON we can really make a very good year in 2011.”
Andersson’s ability as a driver is beyond question; he has won two world titles already, capturing the 2004 and 2007 Junior World Rally Championship crowns with Suzuki. Andersson was also selected to spearhead Suzuki’s first ever assault on the full World Rally Championship in 2008. Last season, he was drafted into the Stobart M-Sport Ford World Rally Team and finished seventh on his maiden outing in a Focus RS WRC.
PROTON Motorsports team principal Chris Mellors is delighted to have secured a double world title winner for 2011. He said: “Anybody who has seen P-G driving up close can be in no doubt about the kind of speed he is capable of. We’re really looking forward to working with him this season. With Chris Atkinson and Alister McRae confirmed for the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and P-G confirmed for the IRC, we’re looking at a very strong driver line-up through this year. There’s no doubt this is going to be a very exciting season for PROTON Motorsports.”
PROTON Motorsports will enter two Satria Neo S2000s in this year’s IRC and will announce who joins Andersson in the team for the second round of the series (Rally Islas Canarias, April 14-16) in the near future.