WRC
The calm that carried Jonas Andersson to 200 WRC starts
If there is one word that best sums up Jonas Andersson, it is probably the one he chose himself: calm.
For more than two decades, the Swede has been one of the most reliable voices in the FIA World Rally Championship, building a career that has taken him from Junior WRC titles with P-G Andersson to podiums and a win alongside Mads Østberg, a WRC2 crown with Pontus Tidemand and a new chapter today with Gus Greensmith.
It is a journey that has brought Andersson beyond 200 starts at rallying’s highest level, placing him among the championship’s most experienced co-drivers. But while the statistics tell one story, they reveal little of the unusual road that led him there.
Speaking in the latest episode of the WRC Backstories Podcast, hosted by Becs Williams, Andersson explains that co-driving was never the original plan. Like so many young Swedes growing up around Rally Sweden’s heartland, he wanted to be the one behind the wheel.
“My dad was into motorsport,” said Andersson. “He did a bit of racing himself when he was younger and there was always that environment there.
“He was working in forestry with forestry machines and so on, and there was always the workshop - getting in the way, getting dirty with oil and all of that. It was always interesting.
“We always had toys, small go-karts and things like that at home. So from an early age I was really interested in motorsport.”
Raised in Värmland, a region Andersson describes as “the capital of motorsport” in Sweden, rallying came naturally. He started in folkrace as a teenager and harboured ambitions of buying a rally car of his own. Co-driving, at least initially, was secondary.
That changed when a young P-G Andersson made contact.
“Then I was looking into buying a rally car but, at that same time, P-G reached out to me and asked if I wanted to do the Swedish championship with him,” he recalled.
“At that time, that sounded like a really great idea because with my budget I would only have done really small rallies. So to do the Swedish championship was a great thing. I said yes, definitely I’ll do that. And from there on, I’ve never gotten back into the driver’s seat. Luckily, maybe.”
Even then, rallying was not yet a full-time reality. Andersson’s early adult life included military service, a short United Nations mission in Bosnia and regular work away from the stages - experiences that helped shape the cool-headed figure so familiar in WRC service parks today.
Andersson's sole WRC victory came in unusual circumstances
© ACP
“I did that and then I actually went to Bosnia on a UN mission with the military after that,” he said.
“I was there as a group leader for a bunch of mechanics.
“It was very interesting and it makes you think a bit, for sure.”
His rally career accelerated quickly once it got going. After a handful of eye-catching appearances in 2003, Andersson and P-G Andersson earned a factory-backed Suzuki drive for the 2004 Junior WRC season. But their title-winning year did not begin in glamorous fashion.
In Monte Carlo, an over-ambitious cut across a wet field ended in a fence. In Greece, they rolled. Then they rolled again.
“So yeah, it wasn’t a great start,” Andersson admitted. “Maybe we were a bit too excited at the beginning there.”
What followed, however, was a turnaround that defined the partnership. Victory in Turkey became a breakthrough moment, followed by another in Finland, before the pair sealed the title at the final round.
Andersson still remembers the emotion of that first Junior WRC win.
“It was the road section back from the last stage in Turkey, driving from the mountains down the mountain. It was more or less sunset,” he said.
“That was like a dream come true. It was such an emotional moment. That’s one of the clearest memories I have from any win in rallying, for sure.”
He won the WRC2 title alongside Pontus Tidemand
© Red Bull Content Pool
A second Junior WRC crown followed in 2007, by which point Andersson had become part of one of rallying’s most enjoyable eras - one he remembers as more social and less intense than the video-heavy modern championship.
“Nobody was watching videos or anything like that,” he said. “It was a bit more social. Everybody was out having dinner together. When the recce was finished, you went out, had dinner together and so on. So it was definitely more relaxed.”
Suzuki’s step up in the WRC in 2008 offered Andersson his first full taste of the top level, though the project lasted only a single season. When the programme ended, he briefly walked away from rallying altogether and returned to regular work - in his case, concrete construction in Norway.
“I kind of retired then,” he said. “I was like, okay, that was a few good years.
“So then I didn’t do anything special for almost six months. Just worked my regular job.”
That retirement did not last long. In the middle of 2009, Østberg called - and Andersson made sure his return would be on proper terms.
“I said then, if I’m going to do it, you’ll have to hire me full-time,” he explained. “I don’t care what you have me doing - I’ll be in the workshop doing whatever - but just make it a full-time job so it doesn’t have to be half-arsed really.”
It proved a pivotal decision. Andersson and Østberg went on to spend years together, scoring podiums, fighting near the front and building one of the championship’s most recognisable pairings.
The Swede has partnered Gus Greensmith since the end of 2021
© Red Bull Content Pool
For Andersson, one result stands above the rest.
“One that really stands out is 2011 with him in the new Ford, competing in Rally Sweden and being second to Mikko Hirvonen there by only a few seconds,” he said. “It was down to the last day, really. That’s something that will stick with me forever.”
Oddly, the one WRC win listed beside Andersson’s name in the record books does not rank quite so highly. That came in Portugal in 2012, after Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen were excluded following the finish.
“It is in the history books as a win, but for me it’s a second place really,” Andersson said. “It was more of a technicality.
“It’s a win, but I definitely rate my second place in Sweden higher than that one, actually, because that was fair and square. But I have a win at least in the history books, so I’ll take it.”
The Østberg years also brought a spell with Citroën - a period Andersson still remembers fondly.
“For me, I think that was one of the best couple of years in rallying,” he said. “I really enjoyed being in that team with all those people around. We just worked so well together.”
As ever with Andersson’s career, though, the journey was never entirely linear. There were side stories and detours too, including a one-off victory alongside Kris Meeke on Ireland’s Rally of the Lakes in 2007, despite Andersson having little experience of English pace notes at the time.
Then there was another major decision: leaving Østberg to join Pontus Tidemand, a move that brought fresh motivation and eventually a WRC2 title in 2017.
“It was a really tough decision, definitely,” Andersson said. “But in the end I just felt that was what was right for me at that time.”
That willingness to adapt has helped sustain a career that now stretches across multiple generations of rally cars and drivers. Today, Andersson sits alongside Gus Greensmith, having switched not only to a new partnership but to English notes as well - a challenge he actively welcomed.
“Switching from Swedish to English was something I really wanted to do because I thought it was a great opportunity to try something new,” he explained.
“And like you said, I’m not done yet, so who knows? It widens where you can go and what you can do.”
That line perhaps says more than any statistic can. More than 200 starts into his WRC journey, Andersson is still learning, still changing and still searching for the next challenge.
Not bad, then, for the young Swede who once thought the dream lay in the driver’s seat.
Listen to the full WRC Backstories Podcast to hear Andersson on learning English pace notes, life with Østberg and Greensmith, his brief retirement from rallying and the memories that still stand out from more than two decades in the sport.
