New Ford rally car out testing
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FORD, Toyota, Citroen, VW and Hyundai continue to test the new-look World Rally Cars that will take to the stages starting with January’s Rallye Monte Carlo.
Last week saw the first prototype of the new Ford Fiesta WRC turn wheels in anger at the M-sport test facility in Cumbria. The firm’s managing director, former rally driver Malcolm Wilson, took the car on its first shakedown in a blue camouflage livery, later handing over to Martin Prokop.
“Whenever a brand new car gets its first run out in the forest, there’s always an air of excitement, and rightly so,” said Wilson. “Time and again we’ve proven that we have the engineering expertise to produce winning cars, and the initial findings suggest this one will be no different. This is only the first prototype, but the speed is incredible.
“We’re still fine-tuning the aero package with our colleagues at Ford, but we’ve been able to run all the mechanical components on the current bodyshell and the first tests have only strengthened my confidence in our ability to produce a winning car.”
The new-generation WRC cars will boast more extensive aerodynamics than their predecessors, as well as being 55mm wider and 10kg lighter than before. They’re also expected to produce around 380bhp, which is about 60bhp more than the current cars.
Toyota, meanwhile, announced last week that it had completed 5,000km of testing with its new Yaris WRC. The team is being managed by four-time World Rally champion driver Tommi Makinen, who said: “We’ve worked hard to be on time. We’ve completed a lot of test sessions since May and we’ve stuck to our schedule.”
Makinen himself has been testing the car, along with fellow Finns Juho Hanninen and Jarkko Nikara. The former could be a part of the team’s 2017 line-up, with Makinen also said to have his eye on current WRC star Ott Tanak, Welshman Elfyn Evans and WRC2 rising stars Esapekka Lappi, Teemu Suninen and Pontus Tidemand.
First shakedown for Fiesta WRC prototype M-sport boss Wilson says he’s confident of victories