A busy Hibberd

As well as racing a Lotus 23B in the Madgwick Cup, Andrew Hibberd will race two more cars over the weekend for the race preparation business he runs with his father Mike. Hibberd will be kept busy racing the Formula Junior Lola Mk2 of American Nick Grewal and the LDS Grand Prix car of Alan Baillie.

Co-driver who joined Mattwilson on the test

Scottish co-driver Stuart Loudon made his debut with the M-sport World Rally Team at last week’s test in France.

How did you get this job?

“I’ve worked with M-sport on a few events before and I’ve known Matthew for quite a while. When I co-drove for him on the Pirelli, he asked if I’d be interested in doing some work with the new car. I didn’t need asking twice.” “Absolutely phenomenal – the power was insane.”

Was it the power that took you by surprise?

“Yes, nothing prepares you for that. It was probably more pronounced for me: I’ve come up two levels from an R5 car, missing out the current WRC and straight to the 2017 car. The other thing that amazed me was the way the car handled the rough roads.”

How rough was it?

“It was shocking. I’d see nothing like it in Britain. We did the recce in a Ford Ranger and the pair of us were being shaken all over the place, but when we got into the rally car, everything was so smooth. The chassis and the suspension are unbelievable – the kind of punishment they can take has to be seen to be believed.”

How was it working with M-sportworld Rally Team?

“The best. Like I said, I’ve done a bit before, but still nothing prepares you for the level of professionalism these guys work at. As amateurs and semi-pros, you think you’ve got it kind of sussed, then you come here and work with this team and realise a factory team is on another planet.” “It is. With me in the Ford Fiesta, Seb [Marshall] in the Hyundai programme and Scott [Martin] and Paul [Nagle] in the Citroen, co-drivers from the home nations certainly must be doing something right!”