World Rally Car chance for Tanak

Ott Tanak will drive a Ford Fiesta RS WRC for the first time during a demonstration event in the UK this weekend.

The Rally Show takes place at Cornbury Park in Oxfordshire, a former Rally GB spectator stage venue, and is set to attract more than 10,000 fans.

Estonian Tanak, who won the Super 2000 World Rally Championship section of Rally d’Italia Sardegna, will appear at the event on Sunday in the Fiesta RS WRC Khalid Al Qassimi drove to 13th overall on the gravel rally last week. Norwegian Henning Solberg will drive the car on Saturday.

Factory Ford drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala have a clashing test commitment in Greece and are unable to attend.

“Sardinia was a dream result after a fantastic performance from him,” said Ford World Rally Team boss Malcolm Wilson. “Ott will drive [the Fiesta RS WRC] on Sunday so it’s a great story to take back to Cornbury for the fans.”

Andrew Wheatley, the business manager at M-Sport, the company responsible for Ford’s WRC effort, said: “It will be good experience for him and his performance [in Sardinia] indicates he will be one of the ones to watch come the next two or three years. I’m sure he will do a competent job and from looking at him it’s obvious the experience can only help him.”

For Tanak, 23, the opportunity is one he will relish: “I don’t know exactly what the show is like but it will be good to try and the car and see how it works.”

Dani Sordo and Colin McRae’s father Jimmy McRae will also attend the event. Sordo will demonstrate the MINI John Cooper Works WRC, which made its world championship debut in Italy last week.