Friday 10th August 2012, 10:29

Danish star Hans Andersen says breaking into the Grand Prix series’ top eight isn’t mission impossible, but knows he’ll need final finishes to keep his World Championship dream alive.

The Odense-born racer is 11^th in the standings on 39 points going into the FIM Fogo Italian SGP at Terenzano on Saturday. This puts him 23 adrift of the top eight automatic qualification berths for the 2013 series with five rounds to go.

Andersen has made it into the GP Challenge at Gorican on September 29, where the top three earn SGP spots for next year.

But the Swindon man remains desperate to secure his World Championship place by surging into the top eight, although he knows it will be a tall order.

He said: “It’s all about getting into finals and scoring double points. I lost a bit of ground on the top eight in Gorican due to Andreas Jonsson in eighth finishing second, but I still managed to advance two places up the standings.

“I just need to have some good meetings now and hopefully win one as well. I’ll keep plugging away and if I don’t finish eighth, I might finish ninth, putting me just outside.

“At the end of the day, the top eight is still my main aim. It’s difficult, but it’s not impossible. I need some of the riders above to have less good meetings and I need to plug in loads of points.”

Andersen left the FIM Fogo Croatian SGP in Gorican on July 28 with a season-best eight points, which still weren’t enough to earn him a semi-final berth.

But having finished second at Terenzano in 2009, he hopes to get back on top of the SGP medal rostrum for the first time since he won the Italian round at Lonigo in 2008.

He said: “I’ve come second at Terenzano before and I’d like to go all way. I can beat anyone, so it would just be nice to put a good performance together in the GP again, go and get another final and be on the rostrum. But it’s the GP and nothing is easy. Just look at that meeting in Gorican. Nicki won the main event with 11 points and Martin Vaculik finished 10th with eight – there were three points from one to 10.

“That’s probably why there have been seven GPs and six different winners. It’s competitive. Jonsson is eighth and he’s the world No.2. That just shows how competitive this season is.

“I seem to have got dialled in with engines recently and I am very happy with what I’ve got at the moment. That’s why I’m producing points. I’ve been testing with shed-loads of engines and setups to try and suss this new muffler out.”

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