Shortened test won’t harm Acropolis bid, says Ostberg

Mads Ostberg is ready to challenge for more success in the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia, even though his pre-event test for the Acropolis Rally was cut short by a suspension failure.

Ostberg, was in Portugal last week - the country where he claimed his maiden WRC victory at the start of April - but was only able to cover 70 kilometres before he elected to stop running.

“There was a problem with the suspension, it collapsed and although we had spare suspension it wasn’t the same specification so we decided not to carry on testing,” said Ostberg, who drives an Adapta World Rally Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC. “But I was really, really happy with the test because we managed to make some small changes to improve the car.”

Ostberg, currently fourth in the WRC drivers’ standings, continued: “The problem now is working out what pace we try on the rally and how much we push. We want to push so we can stay in touch with the top drivers and take that next step but we’re so, so needing to be careful about the car. Shakedown will provide a real indication about what we can do on the rally.”