The Red Bull Rally Team were tonight celebrating a successful first day at the Uddeholm Swedish Rally, the second race on the World Rally Championship calendar and the first in the P-WRC series.

Andreas Aigner (AUT) and Klaus Wicha (GER) managed to move up to fifth place in the P-WRC list (16th overall) after eight stages on the roads with their Mitsubishi EVO XI. Bernardo Sousa (POR) and Carlos Magalhaes (POR) meanwhile performed even better than the tough expectations of team boss Raimund Baumschlager. The Portuguese pair gained two top ten stage times (including an outstanding fifth in the evening Super Stage) as they shot up to tenth place before spinning and dropping down to eleventh in the P-WRC timings (23rd overall).

Leading the rally after the first day is Swede Patrik Sandell (Peugeot 207).

Team boss Raimund Baumschlager: “Both Andreas and Bernardo performed their tasks perfectly. I am really pleased with the way things have gone today. At the moment we are more or less sitting where I would like us to be at the end. Now we just have to fight to keep our positions.”

Andreas Aigner: “It was really difficult today. For example there was a 22 kilometre stage where only five corners still had snow and everywhere else was already gravel. Then you are always running the danger of flying off the lane grooves and into the deep snow, which is why we were not able to take as many risks as we would have liked. Nevertheless it was a perfect day for us.”

Bernardo Sousa: “Everything was going really well for me today. Unfortunately I lost my top ten spot in the P-WRC rankings with a spin at the end. I still have two days to put it right however. The most important thing for me during the rest of the rally is going to be staying on the road.”

Aigner and Wicha’s end of day report:      P-WRC/Overall

Stage 2: Stensjön 1    15.50 km  5/20 
Stage 3: Bjälverud 1    21.58 km  6/21 
Stage 4: Mangen 1    22.09 km  6/17
Stage 5: Stensjön 2    15.50 km  6/19
Stage 6: Bjälverud 2    21.58 km  7/21
Stage 7: Mangen 2    22.09 km  4/17
Stage 8: SSS Karlstad 2   1.90 km 13/27

Sousa and Magalhaes’s end of day report:      P-WRC/Overall

Stage 2: Stensjön 1    15.50 km 14/35 
Stage 3: Bjälverud 1    21.58 km 12/29 
Stage 4: Mangen 1    22.09 km 11/24
Stage 5: Stensjön 2    15.50 km  9/23
Stage 6: Bjälverud 2    21.58 km 12/28
Stage 7: Mangen 2    22.09 km 11/24
Stage 8: SSS Karlstad 2   1.90 km  5/18