Fiesta crews complete successful pre-Sweden test

The seven semi-works Ford Fiesta RS WRC drivers taking part on Rally Sweden later this week have got their first taste of the Blue Oval’s new challenger in final specification during a two-day multi-test north of Torsby.

Ken Block, Dennis Kuipers, Mads Ostberg and Matthew Wilson sampled the cars they will use on the opening round of the World Rally Championship yesterday (Sunday) with all four completing approximately 75 kilometres of running.

Block has stayed on for a second test today (Monday) and has been joined by Khalid Al Qassimi, PG Andersson and Henning Solberg.

Ambient temperatures at the test venue 50 kilometres north of Torsby rose to a high of two degrees centigrade on Sunday but are unlikely to exceed minus six degrees centigrade today.

The test roads used featured sections of soft snow with small chunks of exposed gravel and ice-coated treated tracks. They were chosen to be representative of the stage conditions likely to be encountered on Rally Sweden, which runs from 10-13 February.

Richard Millener, who was co-ordinating the test for car builder M-Sport, said the sessions had been “very successful”, adding: “It’s been very positive and none of the drivers have reported any problems. All the drivers said how easy the car was to adapt to, particularly those with experience of the Super 2000 Fiesta. They all noticed the extra power and how nimble the car is in terms of its handling. They were very pleased and got a good feel of what to expect.”

As well as adapting to the new Fiesta RS WRC, Millener said the drivers had been able to experiment with different set-ups by working on alternative spring and damper-click options.

Upon completion of the test later today, the M-Sport team mechanics and engineers will transfer to Hagfors where Rally Sweden’s permanent service park is located to begin the task of preparing the cars for the start of the event on Thursday evening.

The seven drivers and their co-drivers will begin reconnaissance of the special stages from tomorrow.