ANDERS Thomsen raced to his first Grand Prix victory in over four years in Saturday night's Swedish GP in Malilla.
The Danish rider pulled off a surprise in the night's final when he faced unbeaten Brit Robert Lambert, who had raced to five straight wins in the qualifying races, and the top two in the series, Bartosz Zmarzlik and Brady Kurtz. But first substitute Thomsen, deputising for the injured Dan Bewley, raced clear of his three rivals from gate four for a famous victory which lifted him to 50 points in the overall standings, only five short of the injured Jack Holder who currently occupies the seventh and final automatic qualifying position for 2027. Lambert followed Thomsen home for the silver medal on the night to strengthen his grip on third place overall and close slightly on top two Zmarzlik and Kurtz, the former finishing third to move five points clear of Kurtz. Three-time Danish champion Thomsen said afterwards: “I am really glad that I am not finished yet in the GP – I thought it was over. I just went into the meeting without pressure. I just said to the boys, ‘let’s go have some fun and let’s see what happens'. “Bartek and Robert were fighting on the inside gates in the final. Bartek was close to Robert and I had a clear race on the outside in the dirt. Luckily, I got a good set-up that was working in the dirt. It was great to be back in the final. When you get into the final, anything can happen.” Full coverage from Malilla, including SGP2 and SGP4, in this week's magazine – on sale on Thursday. PICTURE: Daniel Sievers
