The rally, which is the opening round of the Finnish Rally Championship, will consist of five special stages covering 98.47 km on Friday, while on Saturday the course comprises a further five speed tests covering 132.99 km.
"The Fiesta RS WRC has covered thousands of kilometres in testing over the last four or five months. However, a traditional test cannot truly replicate genuine competition for learning about a car. We believe that going to the Arctic Rally will provide ideal preparation for both the team and the drivers ahead of Rally Sweden,” said Ford Abu Dhabi team director Malcolm Wilson.
The Fiesta RS WRC is powered by a 1.6l turbocharged engine with EcoBoost origins, paired to a four-wheel drive transmission. The performances figures are still in the gray, as are for now pretty much all the performance characteristics of the vehicle.
The Arctic Lapland Rally will be the first real opportunity for Ford and its drivers to test the model under real life racing conditions.
"At a normal test a driver covers the same section of road continuously and quickly learns how to drive it. Almost all the roads in the Arctic Rally are used only once, so it gives the team the opportunity to see how the car performs in competitive surroundings. The stages will be a similar length to a WRC round so it really will be a perfect test opportunity," said Latvala.
Google News