RALLY: Ford Martini team aims to build on McRaes win
16 March 1999
After their emphatic victory on Kenyas Safari Rally last month, Colin McRae and Nicky Grist lead the Ford Martini World Rally team into action in Portugal next week with a new outlook on their FIA World Rally Championship season. Their near 15 minute victory on the toughest round of the series, on only the third event for the new Ford Focus World Rally Car, has raised expectations for the rest of the year.In what was, and still is, a development year for the Focus, rivals are talking about the Ford Martini team as realistic world title contenders. The four-day Rally of Portugal (21 24 March) is the first true all-gravel event of the season and will give a much clearer indication of the potential of the Focus on the championships predominant surface.
Fought out in front of wildly enthusiastic fans, many of whom cross the border from Spain, the rally is always regarded as a true indicator of form for the season ahead after the unique challenges posed by the vastly different conditions of the opening three rounds.
Not that McRae has any doubts. "I havent ruled out winning the championship, I now think thats a realistic goal. It was always in the back of my mind but we thought it would take us the first half of the year to make the Focus truly competitive. Our Safari victory, coming after excellent performances in Monte Carlo and Sweden, has shown everyone that the Focus is much closer to a front-running pace than anyone thought it would be at this stage of the season," said the 30-year-old Scot.
"Another top three finish is definitely a possibility but the question is whether we have the edge to fight for victory just yet on a sprint-type gravel rally. The car is still heavier than we would like but thats something that the team is working hard to sort out. This rally has a mixture of rough and smooth roads but we know from our experiences in Kenya that the Focus can take the rough sections without a problem," added McRae.
His team-mate in Portugal will again be Norways Petter Solberg, replacing the injured Thomas Rdstrm whose recovery from last months broken leg has been so good that he is scheduled to test a Ford Focus this week in Portugal. Solberg, who drove magnificently in Kenya to finish fifth on only his fourth World Championship rally, will be accompanied by regular co-driver Phil Mills after benefiting enormously from the experience of three-times Safari Rally winning co-driver Fred Gallagher in Kenya.
"This should be easier for me than Kenya - but not much!" said the 24-year-old Scandinavian. "Ive never even been to Portugal before and my only experience of the rally is watching a video of last years event on television last week. I wont take any chances, just try to learn the nature of the roads and judge my pace accordingly.
"Because this is a brand new rally for me, we must write our pace notes from new and thats obviously quite hard. But, as always, Ill try to do the best for the Ford Martini team and if I can finish inside the top 10 then Ill be happy," he said.
Ford Martini World Rally Team director Malcolm Wilson is understandably confident following the teams Safari victory but also realistic about the prospects for a repeat success in Portugal.
"Winning the Safari Rally, where consistency and reliability count for more than outright speed, is one thing but winning in Portugal, where the only tactic is to drive flat out from the start is another. I know that the Ford Focus will be competitive but this rally is the first traditional gravel event that the car has tackled so were back on the learning curve again and relying heavily on the data obtained from our Portuguese tests last weekend," he said.
Technical Talk
The Rally of Portugal may be the fourth round of the 14-event series but it is the first of the all-gravel sprint-type rallies which form the backbone of the championship. As such the Ford Martini World Rally Team engineers have been concentrating on paring weight from the Ford Focus, which, although lighter than its debut in Monte Carlo in January, is still heavier than its four-wheel drive rivals.
The Portuguese stages are usually slightly rougher than other gravel events so the Focus cars will have more underbody protection than normal, but considerably less than that used to combat the punishing rocks and pot-holes of Kenya.
Geography
There has been a gradual move northwards in the route. Stages in the Lousa region are ignored this year in favour of tests close to the Spanish border, north of the town of Ponte de Lima, on the opening leg which also takes in the famous Fafe stages. The equally-popular Arganil tests, south-east of Porto, comprise the bulk of leg 2 before heading back north for a short loop around the town of Felgueiras on the final day.
The Rally
For the first time in the rallys history, the start, every rest halt and the finish are in the same town, ensuring one of the FIA World Championships leading events moves ever closer to the more modern clover leaf format favoured by teams. Portugal used to boast some of the longest stages in the championship but the average length of stages on this years event is one of the shortest in the series at just over 17km. A fraction under 400km of all-gravel stages await drivers in a total route of 1809km with a super special at Baltar replacing the traditional test at the Lousada Rallycross circuit as the opening stage of the event.