Former World Rally Championship driver Patrik Sandell from Sweden celebrated his birthday with a podium finish in his RallyCross debut.

It was a success for Patrik Sandell in his RallyCross debut. The Swede reached a podium finish at Global X Games and the Global RallyCross Championship round in Brazil. Brilliant starts were the key to his third place. “It’s just awesome! You can’t come here and expect to just leave all the other drivers behind, everybody is just so extremely good. Still I promised myself to bring home as many points as possible, but a third place is insane”, says the Swedish Ford OMSE driver.

But it didn’t come easy. Sandell didn’t quite succeed at the initial time qualifying on Saturday and got a bad starting position for the first heat on Sunday. The Swede managed to struggle his way up in the field and finally made it through to the final, where he started as the tenth car, with all the top drivers in front of him. But again, he got a great start, got past on the inside and was fourth when the race was stopped as too many cars were parked alongside the course.

That meant a re-start and once again Sandell found himself at the back of the now six cars field. But after another strong start he was again fourth after the first corner. “I chased for third place and managed to take my Joker Lap at just the right moment. I was right on his tail when Steve Arpin did his Joker Lap and then managed to get right after him again. Then I could pass him when I did my own Joker Lap”, says happy Sandell, who also celebrated his 31st birthday on Sunday. The eventual winner was American Scott Speed, the NASCAR and former F1 driver, ahead of Finn Toomas Heikkinen.

Photo: Patrik Sandell flying his OMSE Ford Fiesta Mk7 ST Rallycross SuperCar to third place. © QBA/ERC24