M-Sport will focus on suspension improvements during a major pre-Rally Finland test of its new Ford Fiesta RS WRC, in the hope of getting closer to World Rally Championship wins.Ott Tanak battled with the Volkswagen for victory in Poland on the last WRC round and finished third. He believes it will be possible to unlock further speed from the Fiesta during the planned six days of running in Finland this month.
“It’s difficult to beat the Volkswagens, but what we can do is go to Finland and do our job again,” said Tanak. “The test will help us find more stability and traction in the car. I think we can also work on the tire wear as well.”
M-Sport team principal Malcolm Wilson said suspension would be at the center of the test.
“We’ll be working with [supplier] Reiger when we’re in Finland [for the test],” Wilson said. “It’s not a completely new damper, we’d need to use a [homologation] joker for that, but there will be some technical changes internally.
“We’ve seen where we can make some improvements and that’s the area we’ll work on. I think that can make a difference in Finland and I certainly hope the car will be even quicker there.”
M-Sport has won Rally Finland four times in the last nine years, but Wilson fell short of tipping Tanak for victory this year.
“We did target the second half of the season for a bigger push,” said Wilson. “The plan was to get to the midpoint with some more experience and a good feeling in the car and then to look for results in the second half when we’re at rallies which maybe suit Ott a little bit more.
“The plan will be the same for Finland as it was for Poland, we want to see him pushing and seeing what’s possible. Being realistic, a win might be stretching it, but let’s see.”
Story: Autosport
Published by: The Racer