Alastair Fisher continued his preparations for Neste Oil Rally Finland, the third event of the FIA WRC Academy season, by finishing third in class and 29th overall on the auto24 Rally Estonia last weekend (July 15/16).
Driving a Ford Fiesta R2 alongside navigator Daniel Barritt, Fisher was using the event to adapt to driving on high-speed gravel stages, similar to those that will form the next WRC Academy round. “It was a very enjoyable rally, fast stages, a great atmosphere and lots of fans,” said the 22-year-old from Trillick in County Tyrone. “But the most important thing was to do a gravel rally again after our second-place finish on the Donegal International Rally last month, which used asphalt-only stages. By going to Estonia we were able
to make pacenotes on stages with crests and fast corners, which is what we’ll experience in Finland.”
Prior to heading to Estonia Fisher took part in a one-day test in Finland (July 10), which he used to develop the set-up of his Fiesta. He said the combination of his participation on Rally Estonia and his pre-event has handed him a major boost ahead of Rally Finland, which he will tackle for the first time this year.
“Finland is a very fast and hard rally and when you look at some of the jumps on TV you get a bit apprehensive,” said Fisher. “But Rally Estonia and the test we did have given me a lot of confidence and I feel I can go there and hit the ground running.”
Fisher continued: “We had no major problems in Estonia although the final two stages on Friday evening were a challenge because they were on Tarmac and we had to do them on gravel tyres. The stages required maximum commitment and it took me a couple of stages to really get into my stride but I was up to second in class A6 by the middle of the second day and I was happy with my result. Craig Breen finished 1.2s in front of me, so we had a great battle with him. A lot of effort went into Rally Estonia so we were really pleased to get some good mileage and experience under our belts.”
Neste Oil Rally Finland is based in the university city of Jyväskylä in the centre of the country and gets underway on July 28.
