Sponsored by Red Bull, the young driver prepared his debut in the top level competition as best he could, doing everything possible to reach the complicated Swedish race in great shape, as the icy tracks were a novelty for him, contrary to the other competitors.

As calmly as usual, Bernardo Sousa started in the desired heel position and soon started to realise that, even at a slower speed, his times were among the best of the N group racers, which gave him enough leeway to avoid unexpected accidents…

«The fact that I still had some leeway really did save me from more complicated situations two or three times; the car did a 360º spin during the first stage and it even flipped further on but we never lost a lot of time so I think the whole race went very well for us.
The Swedish Rally was undoubtedly the hardest in my career. It’s physically exhausting and also requires constant concentration which makes us even tenser even though there was no pressure on us to obtain results.
I think we did our best. I’m really satisfied with our performance and I’d like to thank everyone for their support during this (first…) PWRC dream weekend.
I’d just like to say a few more words: I’d like to thank the BRR technical team that gave us an excellent car and supported us during the rally and also my father, who will have to keep his promise to stop smoking. After all, it was his health I competed for!»

The Swedish rally ended with an overall victory for Jari Matti Latvala (Ford Focus WRC) and Hanninen as (favourite) winner of the PWRC, despite his battle with Patrick Sandell.


After twenty (20) special races, the final overall PWRC classification is:

1st - Hanninen (Mitsubishi) 2h59m58.7s ; 2nd Ketomaa (Subaru) + 1m23.2s; 3rd Sandell (Peugeot) + 1m51.8s; 4th Prokop (Mitsubishi) + 2m03.0s ; 5th Nittel (Mitsubishi) + 3m56.3s…8th Bernardo Sousa / Carlos Magalhães (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9) + 7m58.6s (19th overall).