Klara Andersson (born 29 February 2000) is a Swedish rallycross driver who currently competes in the FIA World Rallycross Championship for the CE Dealer Team and is the Extreme E reserve driver.

Biography

A member of the Sweden Junior National Team of Motorsport, Andersson started her career in

karting Kart racing or karting is a road racing variant of motorsport with open-wheel, four-wheeled vehicles known as go-karts or shifter karts. They are usually raced on scaled-down circuits, although some professional kart races are also held on f ...

before switching to rallycross in 2018 after a five-year hiatus. She made her way up the national motorsport scene, including a wildcard appearance at the 2019 RallyX Nordic season finale, and finished runner-up in the JSM (Junior) class of the 2020 Swedish Rallycross Championship, driving a BMW 120. The following year she made the step up to the SM (Senior) 2150 class, unexpectedly winning the title in her first season in a field that consisted of more than 50 drivers. After impressing in the FIA RX2e Championship, where she achieved a best finish of 4th at

Spa-Francorchamps The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps (), frequently referred to as ''Spa'', is a motor-racing circuit located in Stavelot, Belgium. It is the current venue of the Formula One Belgian Grand Prix, hosting its first Grand Prix in 1925, and has he ...

from two rounds, and in the Extreme E rookie test, Andersson was signed by Xite Energy Racing to partner team owner Oliver Bennett for the 2022 Extreme E season. However, she contracted

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

shortly before the opening round in

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and was replaced by the championship's female reserve driver

Tamara Molinaro Tamara Molinaro (born 10 October 1997) is an Italian rally driver who currently serves as the official championship reserve driver for the Extreme E. She won the FIA European Rally Championship Ladies' Trophy in 2017 before moving on to World R ...

. Molinaro was eventually retained by the team, with Andersson taking her place as reserve. The Swede would make her long-awaited Extreme E debut in September at the fourth event of the season, the Copper X-Prix in

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

, standing in for

Jutta Kleinschmidt Jutta Kleinschmidt (born 29 August 1962) is a German competitor of offroad automotive racing events. She is known for her numerous showings in the Paris Dakar Rally, and notably for having won the event in 2001, becoming the only woman driver to ...

, who injured herself during free practice, at Abt

Cupra Cupra Racing, formerly known as SEAT Sport, is the high-performance motorsport subsidiary of the Spanish automobile manufacturer SEAT, founded in 1985, succeeding the "SEAT Special Vehicles department" which had been formed in 1971 with the miss ...

XE. Together with Dakar Rally legend Nasser Al-Attiyah, Andersson took third place, thus achieving a podium finish on debut. In May 2022 it was announced that Andersson would join

Niclas Grönholm Niclas Grönholm (born 29 May 1996) is a Finnish racing driver currently participating in the FIA World Rallycross Championship racing for GRX-SET World RX Team. He is the son of two time World Rally Champion Marcus Grönholm. Racing record C ...

at the Construction Equipment Dealer Team in RX1e, the top class of the

2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship The 2022 FIA World Rallycross Championship was the ninth season of the FIA World Rallycross Championship, an auto racing championship recognized by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallyc ...

, in what became the first full-season gender equal line-up of the championship. She made history in round 5 of the season in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

by becoming the first ever woman to step on a top-flight rallycross podium. She is the younger sister of former FIA European Rallycross Championship event-winner Magda Andersson. Her father Håkan formerly competed in the Swedish Rallycross Championship for

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

and BMW.

Racing record

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results

(

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)

RX2e

RX1e

Complete Extreme E results

(

) ^* Season still in progress.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Andersson, Klara 2000 births Living people Swedish female racing drivers Swedish racing drivers World Rallycross Championship drivers Extreme E drivers Abt Sportsline drivers Cupra Racing drivers