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Patrik Sandell’s rally outings have been sadly too rare of late, with the 2006 Junior World Rally Champion involved in Global Rallycross with Olsbergs MSE, but he’s been in action at home in Sweden this weekend, winning the Midnattssolsrally – the Midnight Sun Rally – in a 3-litre Porsche 911, prepared by UK specialists Tuthill Porsche.
Starting the final day over 40 seconds behind rally leader Kenneth Bäcklund in his Escort, Sandell and co-driver Mattias Lönn set a series of very fast stage times to take victory from Backlund by nine seconds, with Mats Myrsell third in another 911. Sandell very happy on the top step of the podium: “The car was awesome to drive: I don’t think people truly understand the speed you can get from a historic rally Porsche. The car has given me a great feeling all weekend, the team has been professional through the entire rally and we have really worked together to get this win.” It is fervently to be hoped that the win rekindles Sandell’s enthusiasm for full stage rallying once more… Team boss Richard Tuthill delighted – in Mat the Oxfordshire-based team won the Mini Tour Britannia with a similar 911, driven by Howard Redhouse, but this is a major win in a European event Tuthill now has several 3-litre Porsche 911s available on an arrive-and-drive basis, with the next big potential outing the full Tour Britannia next month: “On his debut event in a Porsche 911, Patrik showed all the skill becoming of his 2006 Junior World Championship title to set stunning stage times across the three days.” “Staying calm when our rivals fought back on a tough second day, Patrik shared detailed technical feedback, which allowed us to fine tune the setup.” “Patrik and Mattias then blended speed and control into a supreme demonstration of the pace of our cars. We are extremely proud of them both and delighted to win this historic European event.” |
