PIRATES chief Matt Ford is “absolutely convinced” Hans Andersen will climb the Grand Prix charts and re-qualify for next year’s series.

Poole Castle Cover’s pin-up boy has endured a stuttering start to this season’s World Championship and languishes in 13th place ahead of the British GP at Cardiff tonight (5pm).

But Ford believes the Dane’s renaissance could start in the Millennium Stadium and that he could just as easily win the meeting as dig deep into the eight-point deficit he trails Kenneth Bjerre.

Bjerre is on 31 points and occupies the last automatic re-qualifying place, but Ford feels Andersen, on 23, is always a threat after winning at Lonigo in September.

Ford, aware Andersen finished fifth overall in the series last year, said: “I’m absolutely convinced Hans will get into the top eight.

“I think he made it very hard for himself starting his season late (by not choosing to ride in Britain from the beginning of the campaign). It works for some riders, and you have to have the utmost respect for the way Jason Crump handled it.

“Jason was very clever. At the start of the season he was riding in as many individual meetings as he could.

“That has been the difference between him and some of the others who haven’t done so well in the GP.

“Riders are different characters. There are those who can just get on a bike and make it work straight away, and those who need to take their form into a GP, and Hans is one of those.”

Andersen, who was fourth at Cardiff in 2005, made his GP debut in 2002 and has four GP wins under his belt, prompting Ford to say: “There is no doubt about it, Hans can win in Cardiff. When it happens for him, he will go on a run, he just needs that little bit of luck.

“He’s definitely a confidence rider. I think the more races he wins, he’ll soon be back to his best, not just in the GP, but for Poole and in the other leagues.

“You can’t bet against him going to Cardiff and pulling off a great result. We all know he is very capable of beating everyone.”

Poole official Paul Applin will be a familiar face inside and near to the pits at the British GP. He is clerk of the course and will be assisting the referee at the Millennium Stadium for the ninth time in a row.

Applin joins an elite group who have taken part in all eight previous British GPs – which includes riders Leigh Adams, Jason Crump, Tomasz Gollob, Greg Hancock, Scott Nicholls and Nicki Pedersen.

GP standings: (after four rounds of 11) 1 J Crump 74 pts, 2 E Sayfutdinov 60, 3 A Jonsson 46, 4 G Hancock 45, 5 N Pedersen 44, 6 T Gollob 44, 7 F Lindgren 33, 8 K Bjerre 31, 9 L Adams 28, 10 R Holta 27, 11 S Ulamek 27, 12 G Walasek 24, 13 H Andersen 23, 14 C Harris 21, 15 S Nicholls 11.