M-Sport Ford World Rally Team’s Teemu Suninen and Marko Salminen brought their EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta WRC home in seventh place at this weekend’s Rally Argentina.
With limited experience of the stages and very different conditions on the pre-event reconnaissance, the young Finn had much to learn and had to contend with the worst of the conditions throughout much of the event. An intermittent issue with the intercom also prevented him from pushing the limits through the closing kilometres, but he made it through all of stages unscathed – gaining vital knowledge for the future and keeping M-Sport’s record of 241 consecutive points finishes intact. Back in the service park, the team have been busy repairing Elfyn Evans’ damaged Fiesta ready for the next round in Chile. The car was stripped and washed to assess the damage yesterday afternoon, and the technicians have already repaired the bodyshell and rebuilt most of the rear of the car. The re-prep of both cars will continue over the next two and a half days before the cars are trucked in convoy across the Andes. The team will follow on Saturday, and are determined to make a return to the podium.
Team Principal, Richard Millener, said: « Teemu has done a solid job this weekend. It’s only his second time here and he had to contend with some really challenging conditions. Anticipating those conditions when the rally is so different to the recce requires a certain level of experience, and he’s gained some good knowledge for the future whilst keeping our points scoring record intact. But overall it’s been a pretty frustrating rally for the team as we had the potential to secure another really strong result this weekend. But that’s the way it goes sometimes, and we’re already focused on the next event in Chile. The technicians started the re-prep on Elfyn’s car yesterday afternoon and it’s already starting to look like a proper rally car again! It’s been stripped and washed, the chassis has been repaired, and most of the rear has already been rebuilt. We’ll continue the re-prep on both cars over the next two and a half days, and then the technicians are going to have a couple of days holiday before flying to Chile on Saturday. We’ve actually got some mountain biking planned on El Condor which should be good fun! »
Teemu Suninen (7th) said: « This has been a difficult rally for me and I’m sorry for the team that we didn’t perform as well as we wanted. We know that we have a good car and we want to be pushing for better results. But at least we finished the rally and got some good experience for the future. Now, I’m looking forward to Chile and to seeing what we can do there. »
OVERALL CLASSIFICATION
1. Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) 3:20:54.6 2. Andreas Mikkelsen / Ander Jaeger (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +48.4 3. Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (Citroen C3 WRC) +1:04.8 4. Kris Meeke / Sebastian Marshall (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1:06.2 5. Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (Toyota Yaris WRC) +1:21.1 6. Dani Sordo / Carlos del Barrio (Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC) +1:26.7 7. Teemu Suninen / Marko Salminen (Ford Fiesta WRC) +4:57.3
Heller takes maiden win
Pedro Heller claimed his maiden WRC 2 win at this weekend’s Rally Argentina – piloting his EcoBoost-powered Ford Fiesta R5 to a commanding nine-and-a-half minute victory. Delivering a clean and tidy drive, he and co-driver Marc Marti didn’t put a foot wrong and coupled their intelligent drive with stage-winning pace.
The win demonstrates the strength of the Fiesta as well as its continued power and performance. Winning all but four of the 17 stages contested, the current Fiesta R5 remains a force to be reckoned with – securing top results around the world. Work on the new car continues at pace, and it is expected to make its FIA World Rally Championship debut at Rally Finland later this year.
Pedro Heller (1st WRC 2) said: « This is our first victory and for sure we will enjoy it. We had the rhythm, we had the pace, and we delivered a really clean rally. Marc and I took a lot of care with the pacenotes and they are working really well – I think that’s one of the reasons for our success this weekend. We had a scare in the final kilometre when all of the alarms came on and the car went into safety mode! Everything stopped and it was one of the worst feelings of my life! Then after some seconds it came back and we were able to complete the final kilometres in road mode. We had built a really big lead during the weekend and thankfully everything worked out alright – allowing us to take this amazing victory. »
ELSEWHERE IN THE TEAM Gus Greensmith (2nd WRC 2 Pro) said: « Friday didn’t start too brilliantly. Everyone was talking about how challenging the conditions were going to be and I started way too cautiously and lost a lot of time. After that we were matching Mads and I was quite happy with that and looking forward to having a bit more of a push in the afternoon. But we picked up a puncture and then a rock in the line shattered the suspension. It was unlucky, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes. We came back yesterday and things kept getting better from there. Driving fast seemed to take a lot less effort this weekend and I am really pleased with that. I worked really hard with my coach and my engineer before the rally – just focusing on how to drive more efficiently, and it made a big difference. It would just have been nice to have had a bit more luck and to have been challenging for the win. »
Alberto Heller (4th WRC 2) said: « We were leading on Friday but we had a lot of bad luck after that. A broken auxiliary belt meant that we had to retire, but we came back on Saturday with some good speed and some fastest times. Then on the first stage this morning we had a problem with the suspension which we had to carry through all of the stages. It’s a part of the game and part of my learning, and now I’m really motivated for the next event on home soil in Chile. »
Press release M-Sport Ford
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