M-Sport’s ultimate-specification Ford Fiesta Rally2 is on course for a Central Europe Rally debut at the end of the month.
Team principal Richard Millener talked DirtFish through the latest changes which bring to an end an 18-month development and evolution process for the car.
“We’ve been introducing a lot of things gradually like new rear suspension, new dampers, working a lot on setups,” said Millener. “The guys have been working hard for the last 18 months.
“The final piece of the puzzle is an updated cooling package which goes to the FIA for homologation.
“Providing everything’s passed, we aim to debut those [parts] on Central Europe Rally with Adrien [Fourmaux]. Hopefully that’ll come together along with everything else we’ve done over the last like 18 months and give us the final piece of the puzzle.
“The car’s obviously been performing well in the past few rallies, we hope this just gives it that little extra edge as well.”
The only outward visual change will be to the front bumper, but there’s plenty going on beneath the skin.
“We would call it a reasonable step in terms of performance,” said Millener. “But that reasonable step is actually quite a small amount of performance because regulations are so tight and everybody’s cars are actually very similar.
“We’ve shown over the course of this season that the car is still competitive on all surfaces and I think this update and cooling package will allow us to keep the temperatures of the charge system a little lower which should give us a little bit more of an advantage in hot conditions.
“Yes, it may not be as effective in Central Europe [as on hot events] where I can’t imagine temperatures are going to be tropical, but it just gives you that extra flexibility to play about with setup and make sure you’re running at optimal all the time. I think it will help us take another step on.”
The Fiesta Rally2 hasn’t won a round of WRC2 this season, but Fourmaux was one stage away from topping Rally Italy Sardinia and was an impressive second on Rally Finland.
The Frenchman also dominated this year’s British Rally Championship in a Ford Fiesta Rally2.
