Wilson reports great progress following Fiesta R5 test

Craig Breen and Peugeot have been joined in putting a new R5 challenger through its paces with Matthew Wilson running M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta R5 in the United Kingdom today.

Breen spent last week in France testing the all-new Peugeot 208 Type R5, while Wilson took to M-Sport’s private test facility in northwest England to conduct further durability and reliability work with the Fiesta.

“We have made some great progress with the Ford Fiesta R5 today – for a car to come straight out of the box and run like this is fantastic,” said Wilson, a regular in the World Rally Championship in the past. “We have mainly been testing the durability and reliability of the car today to see how it fares under the conditions it is likely to face at world championship level, but we also worked on improving the set-up this afternoon. There is still a lot of development to do, but today has been very promising. All the basics are there and this new Fiesta is set to be a really competitive car.”

The new-generation R5 cars will be eligible for use in the FIA European Rally Championship from later this season once they have been homologated. They have been designed to offer Super 2000 levels of performance for a reduced price.