Posts Tagged ‘ford fiesta super2000’

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Video: M-Sport enters the IRC as a manufacturer

Friday, January 8th, 2010

The Cumbrian based firm M-Sport, managing Ford’s rally operations in WRC, now enters the Intercontinental Rally Challenge following the launch of their new Ford Fiesta Super2000. The rules of the IRC allows any competitor running with a certain manufacturer’s car to score manufacturers points, which now means that any Ford Fiesta driver (both 4WD and 2WD) in the championship will score points. Malcolm Wilson, managing director of M-Sport, says to ircseries.com:

- Joining the IRC allows us to offer our customers the chance to make the most out of their participation on the series, as well as the opportunity to showcase our products in new markets. Initial testing with the Ford Fiesta S2000 has gone extremely well, and we’re very much looking forward to seeing our car make its competition debut with Mikko Hirvonen in Monte Carlo later this month.

This is Mikko Hirvonen testing the Ford Fiesta Super2000 in December last year:

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Posted in IRC, Silly season, Video | 2 Comments »

Confirmed: Ken Block competes in WRC 2010

Wednesday, January 6th, 2010

It’s been rumoured a long time, but finally it’s confirmed. Ken Block will compete the 2010 World Rally Championship with Monster World Rally Team backed by M-Sport. Besides that Ken, who is a big star over in the US, will race the Rally America series with the new Ford Fiesta S2000 as well as compete in the X-Games for his fifth consecutive year.

The charge by Block, who is the first American ever to do a larger assault for the championship, seems to be on a long term, since he says that he’ll not promise any podiums the first year:

- Racing in the WRC has always been a dream of mine, but, I’m not going to promise podiums in my first year. I’ll be going up against the best drivers in the world. My main objective for 2010 is to develop into a competitive driver for 2011, and beyond, says Block.

Sad enough, Block – who is co-founder of DC Shoes and a former snowboarding, skateboarding and motocross star – is set to skip Rally Sweden and start of his WRC challenge with Rally Mexico in March. No matter what, the WRC will really be boosted this year with two superstars in Raikkonen and Block joining the championship.

I’ll get back later on with more info and some reflections on Ken Block and his chances in the championship.

Monster World Rally Team launch video:
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More info at: http://monsterworldrallyteam.com/

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Posted in Rally promotion and media coverage, Silly season, WRC | 2 Comments »

Villagra with Munchis for 2010 WRC and doing IRC Rally Argentina in Fiesta Super2000

Monday, January 4th, 2010

Argentinean driver Federico Villagra will do 7 rounds of the 2010 WRC season and also one outing in the IRC event Rally Argentina. The WRC rounds are Mexico, Jordan, New Zealand, Portugal, Catalunya, Japan and France, which he will do in a Ford Focus WRC from the Munchis team. The Rally Argentina entry is in the Ford Fiesta Super2000 – a drive he says he’s invited to for free. According to himself, Villagra is trying to extend the invitation to cover even the Brazilian Curitiba IRC-event. Last but not least, Villagra has confirmed that he start off the WRC season by doing tests in England in February.

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Posted in IRC, Rally testing, Silly season, WRC | No Comments »

Mikkelsen confirms Fiesta entry in Sweden and IRC campaign with Ford or Skoda

Monday, January 4th, 2010

As I told a few days ago, Andreas Mikkelsen will start in Rally Sweden this February in a Ford Fiesta Super2000. However, it seems I was wrong about the details, please excuse me for that. As it looks right now, Mikkelsen will not do an S-WRC campaign, but instead go for the IRC in 2010 – in either a Skoda Fabia Super2000 or the Ford Fiesta Super2000. The entry in Rally Sweden will be used as a test to decide which one of them…

In Hamar Dagblad, the young Norweigan says that his goal is to win the IRC this year, have a works seat in 2011 and win the WRC in 2012. A tough goal, if you ask me – but why not?

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Posted in IRC, S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season | 1 Comment »

Mikkelsen likely in Ford Fiesta S2000

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009

Ford Fiesta Super2000, Photo: MSport

Andreas Mikkelsen is close to seal a deal for 2010, most probably in the Ford Fiesta Super2000. However, according to NRK the young Norweigan is also talking to Skoda – so nothing is for sure. What seems to be totally sure is that Mikkelsen will start in Rally Sweden in February, and it seems that he is aiming to do the S-WRC championship. Nothing is known about any IRC participation, but my guess is that Mikkelsen will stick with only S-WRC. The Norweigan treats 2010 as another year-in-between (2009 was his first) and expects to be back in full power in 2011 able to expect even the top guns of rallying, where he mentions Loeb and Solberg as the men to beat.

I’m not sure if I believe he will be able to challenge those guys in 2011 no matter how big differences there are on the 1.6T-cars compared to today’s WRC cars – but for sure Mikkelsen has all chances to do a good season this year if he get’s a good car. Let’s wait and see…

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Posted in IRC, S-WRC / WRC Cup, Silly season | 1 Comment »

Nasser Al-Attiyah in the Ford Fiesta S2000

Monday, December 14th, 2009

Nasser Al-Attiyah were rumoured last year for a drive in the Skoda Fabia Super2000, but that plans never became true. However, according to the latest news Nasser now seems to have completed a deal with M-Sport for a drive in the brand new Ford Fiesta Super2000 car. The drive will cover selected parts of the S-WRC, IRC and the MERC championships. Check out yesterday’s post below for a few videos of the Ford Fiesta Super2000.

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Posted in IRC, Silly season, WRC | No Comments »

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