Thursday 10th May 2012, 08:22

Danish international Hans Andersen admits he is under pressure to prove his Grand Prix class following his late wild card call-up for this year.

The Odense-born man lines up in the FIM Mitas Czech SGP in Prague on Saturday, determined to improve on 12th place in the World Championship standings.

He has taken 11 points from two rounds in Auckland and Leszno, but has a history of success in the Czech capital, where he won in 2006 and finished second in 2008.

Andersen has also recorded wins at the next two SGP venues, having triumphed at Gothenburg in 2004 and Copenhagen in 2006.

So he hopes a good run of tracks will kick-start his season and the 31-year-old is keen to justify his top-level recall, after only getting his Grand Prix spot back when Darcy Ward turned down his invite.

Andersen said: “Getting a wild card comes with a little extra pressure and I definitely want to prove to the organisers that they chose the right rider.

“You’ve got to remember I gave up a lot to accept it. I turned down a contract in the Polish Ekstraliga with Zielona Gora. But it’s not all about the money. It’s about the pleasure of riding and being able to achieve something by yourself.

“Winning GPs is a rush and there’s no better feeling. I want to get back to that feeling straight away and getting back to that would prove to the organisers that they picked the right man.”

Andersen says his SGP efforts this year have been hampered by engine issues caused by the baking hot temperatures at the rounds in Auckland and Leszno.

Engines perform differently when the air temperature changes and the Swindon man admits making the transition from the arctic British climate to tropical Leszno was tough.

He said: “I’ve gone from riding in fairly cold weather to very hot conditions in the Grand Prix events and it has made my bikes go completely differently.

“I took the engine I’d been using around Swindon to Leszno – it had been flying around Blunsdon. But I turned up in Poland, it was red-hot and the engine wasn’t doing anything. It was going backwards.

“It’s a nightmare and especially because I feel good, I feel confident in myself and I know I can win races. I’ve won plenty of races already this year. It’s frustrating, but I’m working overtime with the boys in the workshop. I need to get on top of this for Prague because I need to be scoring points. I’ve had some bad meetings there in the past, but I’ve definitely had some good ones.”

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