Østberg remembers his breakthrough WRC drive

Mads Østberg joins SPIN, The Rally Pod to look back on arguably his greatest WRC performance: Rally Sweden 2011

The best rally of most World Rally Championship drivers’ career is usually one of the ones they won, but is that the case for Mads Østberg?

The Norwegian is an unusual case as the only WRC event he won was handed to him after a disqualification for rival Mikko Hirvonen. But there’s a very real argument to be made that Portugal 2012 wasn’t his best performance anyway – rather another battle he had with Hirvonen that he lost by just a slender 6.5 seconds.

Back in 2011, the WRC was going through a change in regulations with the cars downsized from two-liter, C-segment cars (like a Ford Focus) to 1.6-liter, B-segment cars (like a Ford Fiesta).

The season would prove to be a scrap between the works Citroëns and Fords, but it was one of Ford’s second-string Stobart drivers who made a real impression on the opening round in Sweden.

Østberg joins Luke Barry on this week’s episode of SPIN, The Rally Pod to look back at his breakthrough WRC performance on Rally Sweden 2011, why it surprised him and whether he would have approached it any differently with the benefit of hindsight.

He also contemplates whether this was his best WRC performance, and provides an update on where we can expect to see him compete in 2025.

Let us know what you think of this style of podcast, as SPIN, The Rally Pod is undergoing some renovations in March – which could mean more episodes like this…

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