Rickard Rydell
| Rickard Rydell | |
|---|---|
 Rydell at the first Ring Knutstorp round of the 2012 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship season. | |
| Nationality |
 Swedish |
| Born |
22 September 1967 Vallentuna (Sweden) |
| 2014 World Touring Car Championship | |
| Debut season | 2005 |
| Current team | NIKA Racing |
| Car no. | 69 |
| Former teams |
SEAT Sport Chevrolet |
| Starts | 94 |
| Wins | 5 |
| Poles | 3 |
| Fastest laps | 5 |
| Best finish | 5th in 2008 |
| Previous series | |
| 2011–12 2004 2003 2002–04 2001, 2004 2001 1994–2000 1992 1990, 1992 1990 1990, 1992–93 1989 1988–89, 1991 1987–88 1987 |
STCC TC2000 V8 Supercars ETCC STCC (Sweden) FIA GT Championship BTCC Japanese Formula 3000 British Formula 3000 All Japan Sports Prototype All-Japan F3 Championship International Formula 3000 British F3 Championship Swedish F3 Championship European F3 Cup |
| Championship titles | |
| 1998 2011 |
BTCC STCC |
Rickard Rydell (born 22 September 1967) is a Swedish racing driver. He won the 1998 British Touring Car Championship, the 2011 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, and has also been a frontrunner in the European/World Touring Car Championship.
Early career
Rydell was born in Vallentuna, Stockholm. In the early 1990s, he raced in various Formula Three series. He also won pole position in the 1991 Macau Grand Prix, and won the 1992 race. He competed in Japanese F3 in 1992 and 1993, British F3 in 1989 and 1991, and the Swedish F3 series in 1987 and 1988. In 1990, he raced in F3000. In 1984–1985, he won the Swedish 100cc go kart championship.
Touring cars
BTCC
His first year in the BTCC was 1994, when his car was quite distinctive, driving a Volvo 850 Estate, when it was normal to race saloons. The TWR team switched to a saloon in 1995 and Rydell took pole for 13 of the 24 races, but several slow starts contributed to him winning only 4 times and finishing 3rd in the championship, a result repeated in 1996, 1999 and 2000. After five years with Volvo, he was loaned to Ford (Prodrive) for 2000.
In 1998, he won the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC) in a Volvo, beating Anthony Reid at the final meeting. He also won the 1998 Super Touring Bathurst 1000, sharing a Volvo S40 with Jim Richards.
He spent 2001 largely waiting for his European Touring Car Championship Volvo to be built, but he raced a Ferrari 550 Maranello in the FIA GT Championship for the Prodrive team. In 2002 and 2003, he raced in the ETCC with works support for 2002 but as a privateer a year later.
He joined SEAT's SEAT Sport team in 2004 for the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC). In 2004 he also took part in two races in the Swedish Touring Car Championship, claiming one victory.
WTCC
2005 Season
SEAT and Rydell continued in the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) when it replaced the ETCC for 2005. He finished fifth in the championship, winning race two at Silverstone.
2006 Season
He continued with SEAT for 2006, finishing seventh, without a win.
2007
Rydell lost his SEAT drive for 2007, and instead drove an Aston Martin DBR9 with the Prodrive team in the GT Championship having previously worked with the team when using Ferrari's in 2004.
Rydell raced in the 2007 24 Hours of Le Mans with David Brabham and Darren Turner and they won in the GT1 class.
On the WTCC weekend in Anderstorp, Sweden, Rydell returned to the category as a fourth driver for the Cheverolet team and a local hero guest driver. He won the second race of the day, ahead of team-mates Nicola Larini and Alain Menu.
Prior to the last event of the 2007 WTCC calendar in Macau, Rydell was chosen by the SEAT Sport team to race for them as an additional driver to help the team take home at least one of the main championships, either the Driver's championship via SEAT's Yvan Muller winning, or the Manufacturer's championship. The weekend though did not set off as planned, due to Rickard starting 14th on the race 1 grid and Yvan Muller started 2nd behind the eventual winner of the first race Alain Menu in the RML run Cheverolet. Rickard finished 11th in the first race with Yvan Muller leading 8 of the 9 laps of the race, but due to a fuel pressure problem Muller's race weekend ended on the 8th lap even before he was able to get to the pits. During the second race Rickard had a much better race than the first as he finished in 6th, but unfortunately his efforts were not enough to help SEAT clinch the Manufacturer's crowns, as the championship went to the reigning Manufacturer's champions BMW.
2008 Season
Rydell was re-signed by SEAT as one of their drivers in their five strong driver line up for an assault on the 2008 WTCC season. Rickard finished fifth in the final standings, winning once at Estoril and once at Okayama.
2009 Season
Rickard raced for SEAT yet again in 2009, winning at Puebla and finishing seventh overall in the final standings.
2011 Season
Rickard Rydell returns to racing after a year as a commentator of the STCC for Swedish TV. He was signed to Chevrolet Motorsport Sweden team with the Cruze joining as team with his teammate Viktor Hallrup a developmental driver for the team in his second season with the team, with first season being with the Lacetti. Rickard came in as a booster driver for Cheverolet Sweden to gain results for the team as their developmental driver was still not up to speed with the top runners. Rickard won the title* at the last race of the season at Mantorp by just 2 points to Frederik Ekblom.[1]
- This is under debate for Rydell passing under yellows which are not present till Turn 2, but Volkswagen (VW) Team Biogas.se brought in former STCC champion Thed Bjork, and he slowed down before Turn 1 letting three cars past before the first yellow flag light. At present VW have appealed and failed 3 times fourth might be soon.[2]
The two pieces of evidence that Volkswagen Team Biogas.se brought in: Photo and Video,[3] both illustrated on touringcartimes.com
This is Rydell Second National Touring car title after the BTCC championship in 1998, although he won the Bathurst 1000 that year also which was his last touring car title before his return to form in 2011.
Next year he will be defending his STCC title however, Frederik Ekblom will not be contesting in the STCC as he has signed with Volvo Polestar in the silhouette touring car championship run by the TTA which is based on a Volvo C30 chassis and many teams and successful Swedish drivers, i.e. Jan "Flash" Nilsson and Richard Göransson , who were STCC BMW drivers in the 2011 season.
2013 season
Rydell joined NIKA Racing for the 2013 FIA WTCC Race of China to drive their Chevrolet Cruze 1.6T.[4]
Racing record
Complete International Formula 3000 results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position; races in italics indicate fastest lap.)
| Year | Entrant | Chassis | Engine | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Eddie Jordan Racing | Reynard 89D | Mugen Honda | SIL |
VAL |
PAU |
JER |
PER |
BRH |
BIR |
SPA |
BUG |
DIJ Ret |
NC | 0 |
Complete 24 Hours of Le Mans results
| Year | Team | Co-Drivers | Car | Class | Laps | Pos. | Class Pos. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 |  Team Schuppan Omron Racing |
 Hurley Haywood Wayne Taylor |
Porsche 962C | C1 | 332 | 12th | 12th |
| 2002 |  Prodrive |
 Alain Menu Tomáš Enge |
Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello | GTS | 167 | DNF | DNF |
| 2004 | Prodrive Racing |
Darren Turner Colin McRae |
Ferrari 550-GTS Maranello | GTS | 329 | 9th | 3rd |
| 2007 | Aston Martin Racing |
David Brabham Darren Turner |
Aston Martin DBR9 | GT1 | 343 | 5th | 1st |
Complete British Touring Car Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position – 1 point awarded 1996 onwards in all races) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap) (* signifies that driver lead feature race for at least one lap – 1 point given)
Complete European Touring Car Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | DC | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Volvo S60 Racing Team | Volvo S60 | MAG 1 4 |
MAG 2 4 |
SIL 1 4 |
SIL 2 3 |
BRN 1 Ret |
BRN 2 6 |
JAR 1 10 |
JAR 2 14† |
AND 1 3 |
AND 2 2 |
OSC 1 3 |
OSC 2 3 |
SPA 1 4 |
SPA 2 2 |
PER 1 10 |
PER 2 11 |
DON 1 2 |
DON 2 Ret |
EST 1 2 |
EST 2 4 |
5th | 56 |
| 2003 | ART Engineering | Volvo S60 | VAL 1 18† |
VAL 2 10 |
MAG 1 Ret |
MAG 2 Ret |
PER 1 14 |
PER 2 Ret |
BRN 1 Ret |
BRN 2 9 |
DON 1 5 |
DON 2 3 |
SPA 1 11 |
SPA 2 Ret |
AND 1 7 |
AND 2 3 |
OSC 1 12 |
OSC 2 13 |
EST 1 Ret |
EST 2 DNS |
MNZ 1 |
MNZ 2 |
11th | 18 |
| 2004 | SEAT Sport | SEAT Toledo Cupra | MNZ 1 10 |
MNZ 2 10 |
VAL 1 Ret |
VAL 2 Ret |
MAG 1 Ret |
MAG 2 DNS |
HOC 1 8 |
HOC 2 5 |
BRN 1 2 |
BRN 2 12 |
DON 1 22 |
DON 2 19 |
SPA 1 Ret |
SPA 2 11 |
IMO 1 11 |
IMO 2 5 |
OSC 1 7 |
OSC 2 1 |
DUB 1 15 |
DUB 2 DNS |
10th | 29 |
Complete World Touring Car Championship results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
Complete V8 Supercar results
| Year | Team | Car | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | Final Pos | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Triple Eight Race Engineering | Ford BA Falcon | ADL | PHI | ECK | WIN | PTH | HDV | QLD | ORP | SAN 7 |
BAT 7 |
SUR | PUK | ECK | 39th | 168 |
References
- ↑ http://www.touringcartimes.com/stcc.php
- ↑ http://www.touringcartimes.com/article.php?id=6940
- ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxgzLyEaqyA
- ↑ "Rickard Rydell to make WTCC return in Shanghai". Mediaempire Stockholm AB. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
External links
Media related to Rickard Rydell at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- Rickard Rydell on Twitter
- Rickard Rydell career summary at DriverDB.com
- BTCC – Rydell
| Awards and achievements | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Alain Menu |
Autosport National Racing Driver of the Year 1998 |
Succeeded by Laurent Aïello |
| Sporting positions | ||
| Preceded by David Coulthard |
Macau Grand Prix Winner 1992 |
Succeeded by Jörg Müller |
| Preceded by Alain Menu |
British Touring Car Champion 1998 |
Succeeded by Laurent Aïello |
| Preceded by David Brabham Geoff Brabham |
Winner of the Bathurst 1000 1998 (with Jim Richards) |
Succeeded by Steven Richards Greg Murphy |
| Preceded by Robert Dahlgren (Scandinavian Touring Car Cup) |
Scandinavian Touring Car Championship Champion 2011 |
Succeeded by Johan Kristoffersson |
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