Rickard Rydell

Rickard Rydell was born on 22 September 1967. After several years’ racing in Macao, he was determined and made a comeback in 1992. He drove TOM’S 032F and won the 39^th Macau Grand Prix. 

In 1992, Rydell setting the fastest lap in each of the practice session, and became the fastest driver in qualifying by 0.02 seconds, took pole position for the second consecutive year.

The first leg saw the unusual result of Rydell and Portuguese driver Pedro Lamy being placed equal first. Lamy, who had been leading, came across Peter Aslund after “R” Bend on the penultimate lap. With yellow flags out to warn of an earlier incident at the Melco Hairpin Bend, Lamy had resisted passing Aslund. However, Rydell, running second, flew past both Lamy and Aslund to retake the lead, which he held until the chequered flag. Lamy immediately protested, arguing there was no green flag indicating the all-clear to pass. Rydell argued that, in order to avoid an incident, he’d had to pass Lamy. At that time the race was run on the aggregate result over two legs, so the decision was made to place the drivers in equal first.

Second leg saw a determined Rydell. In his TOM’S 032F, he had built up a five-second lead from Lamy by the fourth lap. However, Lamy managed to close the gap, and by the half-way point, Rydell’s lead had shrunk to a little over a second. However, Rydell fended off pressure from the closing Lamy and remained in command to take the chequered flag, it was the first victory for TOM’S at Macao.

This car, the TOM’S 032F, was built for the 1992 season and was an evolution of the 031F. TOM’S decided to concentrate on the Japanese Championship and the Macau Grand Prix. Initially, the car was handicapped thanks to changes in the international F3 regulations regarding the size and positioning of the aerodynamic wings. Weight distribution difficulties made the car difficult to drive, but it was refined over the season.

Rydell returned to Macao in 2004, finished third in the Macau Guia Race, and he returned to Macao in 2005 for the FIA WTCC where he was third in the first of two legs. He continued to return to Macao with FIA WTCC, finishing just shy of the podium in the second leg in 2008.