Ostberg plans to benefit from extra rallies

Mads Ostberg says he hopes that his participation on two rounds of the Norwegian championship recently will make up for his lack of knowledge of Ford’s all-new Fiesta RS WRC when the 2011 season gets underway in Sweden next week.

Ostberg will sample his new Fiesta for the first time during a test in Sweden on Sunday and will drive the car in competition for the first time just four days later. He has admitted he would have liked more time in the car.

“A lot of the factory drivers have been testing their cars for a long time and that will give them an advantage over me,” said the 23-year-old. “But I have done two rallies quite recently on snow and that can also be an advantage to find the feeling again. For sure I would like to test [the new car] for three days but one day is what I can get and we will just do the best we can.”

Ostberg has driven Subaru Impreza WRCs for much of his career, save for a handful of appearances in the Super 2000 version of the Fiesta.

“Of course the Subaru is quite a big car compared to the Fiesta with bits sticking out of the front and rear,” said Ostberg. “Although there will be differences between the [Fiesta] World Rally Car and S2000 car you get some idea of how it reacts and what changes you need to make to your driving by using the Super 2000 car.”

Ostberg, who is chasing a fourth Norwegian championship title alongside his WRC campaign in 2011, finished second on last weekend’s Rally Hadeland in his native Norway. He achieved the same result on the preceding Sigdals Rally, finishing behind Anders Grondal in an Impreza WRC on both occasions. Veronica Engen, Ostberg’s girlfriend, was co-driving for Grondal.

Meanwhile Ostberg has added a ninth event to his original eight-round WRC schedule.