Lack of test no hindrance for Ostberg

Mads Ostberg says winning the Norwegian championship Rally Sorland last weekend has made up for his lack of pre-event test.

The M-Sport Stobart Ford star will begin Rally d’Italia Sardegna without prior knowledge of driving his Fiesta RS WRC on roads similar to what he’ll encounter on the island’s world championship qualifier this week. Thursday’s shakedown stage is not considered representative of the terrain the event will cover when it gets underway on Friday morning.

“Having no test is the biggest worry because I hate going to a rally when I have not tested,” said Ostberg. “That is why doing the rally in Norway was a big help. Okay we were in the Fiesta Super 2000 rather than the World Rally Car so there is some differences but there are some areas where you can compare and it was good practice with the pacenotes.”

Ostberg was embroiled in a close fight with Production Car World Rally Championship star Anders Grondal before his fellow Norwegian crashed his Subaru Impreza WRC into retirement on stage five.

“We were pushing hard because on the gravel his car has more of an advantage than it did on the winter rallies,” said Ostberg. “There were eight stages and I won six but before he crashed I was having a big fight with him.”

Ostberg’s team-mate Matthew Wilson also didn’t enjoy the benefit of a pre-event test in Sardinia. However, he covered 270 kilometres during a test at M-Sport’s test stage in Greystoke Forest in Cumbria, UK, last month.

“It was dry, sunny and dusty as hell so it was the weather we wanted,” said the Briton. “We were just doing some durability stuff with the driveshafts and we didn’t have any problems. It was obviously good to spend some time in the car.”

Wilson will chase manufacturers’ points for M-Sport Stobart for the first time this season having been nominated alongside Ostberg instead of Henning Solberg. “It doesn’t make a big difference only that I’m using Henning’s engine from Jordan under the linking rules and have to think about the gearbox because it will be the same one that I have to use in Argentina.”