Tarmac tester looms for FSTi crews in Germany

The Fiesta SportTrophy International (FSTi) series will move to Germany next week for the ninth edition of Rally Deutschland where six Fiesta R2 entries will prepare for the FSTi’s first asphalt round of the season.

The seven-round series follows the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calendar and the ADAC Rally Deutschland is the fourth round of this year’s FSTi championship. It will be the first asphalt round of the year in the FSTi championship and with only one of the six competitors having contested the event since its inception into the WRC in 2002, it will be a tough event.

The three-day event will kick off with an opening ceremony at the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Porta Nigra on Thursday 28 August and will feature a total distance of 1,194 km, comprising of 19 special stages covering 407 km.

Harry Hunt (21) and co-driver Sebastian Marshall (22) will be fighting hard to try to take back their lead in the FSTi series and close the 13 point gap on current championship leaders, Victor Henriksson (22) and Håkan Palm.

78 – Harry Hunt (21) & Sebastian Marshall (22) – Fiesta R2
FSTi position: 2
The British duo are currently running second in the FSTi series, having lost their lead when they were forced to retire at Neste Oil Rally Finland after sustaining too much damage to continue after a crash on the final day. Hunt currently lies in eighth position in the FIA Junior World Rally Championship (J-WRC) but has not selected this rally as a nominated points scoring round for the J-WRC. The young Briton gained valuable experience driving his Fiesta R2 on asphalt when he contested Rally Bulgaria in June, but was forced to retire on the final day. The 21-year-old is hoping his experience from Bulgaria will give him an advantage in Germany where he will be looking to secure his third points finish in the FSTi series.

Harry Hunt (21) said: “I’ve never been to Rallye Deutschland before so I’m not sure what to expect. From what I’ve heard about the stages, it looks like this will be a tough round and the days are very long. We had some good experience of driving the [Fiesta] R2 on Tarmac at Rally Bulgaria so I’m hoping this will help our performance in Germany. It’s a very different feeling to driving on gravel, so I’m hoping this will give us an advantage over some of the other FSTi entries. I’m looking forward to the challenge and we’ll be pushing hard to try and take the FSTi championship lead from Victor [Henriksson].”

79 – Bader Al Jabri (25) & Stephen McAuley – Fiesta R2
FSTi position: 3
Team Abu Dhabi members, Bader Al Jabri and co-driver Stephen McAuley finished second in FSTi at the Vodafone Rally de Portugal and third at the recent Neste Oil Rally Finland. The duo has demonstrated great potential on Tarmac, and it is Al Jabri’s preferred surface despite having less experience compared to driving on gravel. Al Jabri’s only Tarmac experience in the WRC has been at the 2009 Rally de España, when he showed good pace in his Fiesta ST and it is hoped that the young Emirate can demonstrate a similar performance in Germany. The duo is just eight points behind Briton’s Harry Hunt and will be aiming for a third consecutive points finish next week to try to move up into the top two.

80 – Majed Al Shamsi & Allan Harryman – Fiesta R2
FSTi position: 6
Majed Al Shamsi and Allan Harryman got off to a flying start this year as the duo took victory in the FSTi series in June’s tough Vodafone Rally de Portugal. However, the Team Abu Dhabi crew were less fortunate at Neste Oil Rally Finland when they were forced to retire on the final day due to a reported loss of oil pressure on their Fiesta R2. Like team-mate Al Jabri, Al Shamsi’s WRC experience on Tarmac is limited to 2009’s Rally de España in his Fiesta ST. He is just four points off snatching fifth position in the FSTi series and will be looking to produce a strong performance in Germany to move into the top three.

149 – Christian Riedemann (22) & Josefine Beinke (18) – Fiesta R2
FSTi position: 12=
After a significant lead on his first gravel event in Portugal, disappointment struck when Christian Riedemann and Josefine Beinke succumbed to the rough Portugal conditions with a broken steering arm on the final day and were forced into retirement. However, the young Germans quickly bounced back and went on to take a class win and impressive fourth place overall at Rallye Niedersachsen in Germany. Riedemann then went on to impress at Neste Oil Rally Finland when he crept up the leaderboard, moving into third position on the final day. However, disaster struck and he had to retire just three stages from the end with a broken driveshaft. Riedemann has been nominated as the J-WRC Guest Entry for ADAC Rally Deutschland and is a strong favourite to win FSTi on his home rally.

81 – Khalil Al Shaikh (27) & Killian Duffy (27) – Fiesta R2
FSTi position: N/A
Khalil Al Shaikh and Killian Duffy make up the final crew of Team Abu Dhabi in Germany, after the team has given him the chance to show his mettle in the WRC. Like his Abu Dhabi team-mates, Al Shaikh has little experience of driving on Tarmac. Despite being his first FSTi round of the season, Al Shaikh has been building up his experience in preparation for the WRC over the last two years in various Middle East rallies and is aiming for a to cross the finish line on his debut WRC event.

85 – Joachim Müller-Wende & Hans-Joachim Grimberg – Fiesta R2
FSTi position: N/A
The German duo both have extensive rallying experience and have previously competed in Rallye Deutschland in 2001, 2002 and more recently in 2008 with FSTi. In 2008’s Rallye Deutschland, Müller-Wende finished third in the N3 class and second in the FSTi classification. The German businessman also took his first FSTi stage win at the event. Tarmac is Müller-Wende’s preferred surface and, with the only driver to have past experience of the stages in Germany, he will be tough competition for the other FSTi competitors to beat.

FSTi drivers will be competing for an all-expenses-paid test in M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta S2000 with BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team driver and 2009 World Championship runner-up Mikko Hirvonen, with the chance to discuss the test with the flying Finn and M-Sport Managing Director Malcolm Wilson OBE. A prize fund is also available from which the winner of each rally will receive a €1,500 M-Sport voucher.

As in previous years, the series winner plus one ‘wildcard’ will be put forward to the FST International Shootout to compete against drivers from other FST championships around the world in order to win a year’s contract to work at M-Sport with the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team.

Of the seven counting rounds, the best points from five rounds will count towards the championship standings. This will allow those drivers who have completed the full season to drop any low scores, but will also assist those drivers who are only able to compete on an event-by-event basis to score highly overall if they achieve good results on an occasional basis. Scoring for 2010 will be as per FIA scoring, but with one point awarded for each stage win in order to reward drivers for demonstrations of outright pace.

Teams will also be competing for the Muc-Off Motorsport Cleaning Best Presented Car Award, which will be offered on each event and the winning team will receive a Muc-Off prize pack.
– Credit: M-Sport.