Suzuki's young protege P-G Andersson has dominated the Snow Rally in his native Sweden, bringing home his Suzuki Sweden backed 2004-specification Ignis more than a minute ahead of its nearest rival.
It was Andersson's second successive class victory on the Swedish Championship, which he is contesting for Suzuki Autoimport AB, alongside his Junior World Rally Championship programme.
Andersson won his class on the previous Swedish Championship rally in a 2003-specification Ignis, and went on to lead the opening round of the Junior World Rally Championship in Monte Carlo with a 2004 Ignis.

The Snow Rally was based in Ostersund, in central Sweden, and was covered in snow and ice throughout both days of last weekend's event. In total, the event consisted of 15 stages run over 220 kilometres, and more than 50 teams took the start of this rally. Andersson's result at the end of this tricky rally was enough to place him third overall, just behind some much more powerful four-wheel drive cars.

"Conditions were perfect in what turned out to be a perfect rally for me," said Andersson. "I think third overall is probably the best ever result for a two-wheel drive car on a Swedish Championship rally. We had absolutely no problems at all from start to finish, apart from a wrong tyre choice on the first couple of stages. Then we were able to take the lead and build up an advantage. I don't think there was any way we could have pushed harder."

Andersson tested the 2004-specification Ignis for half a day before the start of the event, and was very impressed by the improvements over the 2003 car. The new car was also totally reliable, not giving a single mechanical problem throughout the whole rally.

"The 2003 car I drove on the last Swedish Championship rally was already very good, but the new car is even better," said Andersson. "It's a bit easier to drive, with more power from the engine. There has also been a lot of work on the shock absorbers at the rear of the car. I knew it was going to be good from the beginning and this gave me a lot of confidence. The rally couldn't have gone better."

Suzuki Sweden PR Manager Torbjorn Lundgren commented: "P-G has achieved a truly remarkable result, as the new Ignis arrived in Sweden only a week ago. Under the lead of Stefan Ericsson, the entire team did an excellent job to get the car ready and give it the opportunity to show its potential. The new Ignis is certainly a state-of-the-art rally car, as P-G has proved beyond doubt."

Andersson's next Swedish Championship rally takes place in two week's time in the north of Sweden near Umea, with more snow and ice expected. He then rejoins the Junior World Rally Championship squad for some testing.