Rickard Rydell is best known for his tin-top exploits during a 20-year run as a professional driver that peaked with the 1998 British Touring Car Championship title. But had the first of his manufacturer affiliations panned out differently, he might never have gone on to represent Volvo, Ford, SEAT and Chevrolet in saloons.
The Swede had been courted by TOM’S following his impressive pace at the 1989 Macau Grand Prix and would be paid to race in Japanese Formula 3 the following year. But future Formula 1 team boss Eddie Jordan – who signed Rydell to a management contract as part of his 1989 British F3 deal with Eddie Jordan Racing – had arranged for him to contest a dual programme in British Formula 3000 and sportscars that restricted him to just four Japanese F3 outings in 1990.
The former, with an ex-Jean Alesi Reynard 89D run under the Team AJS banner, was a free drive deemed the next best thing to an International F3000 graduation that was beyond the sponsorless…
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