Andersson's retirement: 'It was my fault - I was going too fast'

Suzuki World Rally Team driver Per-Gunnar Andersson says the accident that took him out of the Jordan Rally on the first stage was down to driver error.

“About 6km in I came into a left and right-hand sequence too quickly and went off. It was my fault. I was going too fast,” he said. “The rear of the car slid wide and we went off into a sand bank and got stuck. It took us a while to find wood and other things to put under the wheels, but we eventually got going again. The car is okay but we lost too much time to continue so we have to stop today. We’ll be back again tomorrow with Superally.”

Andersson said he had picked up a slow puncture after hitting a rock soon after the start line, but that this wasn’t a factor in the accident. “The main difficulty out there is a lack of grip - it’s a very tricky surface indeed,” he added.