OREANDA-NEWS. January 27, 2016. M-Sport World Rally Team’s Mads ?stberg has equalled his best Rallye Monte-Carlo result at the opening round of the 2016 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) – bringing his Ecoboost-powered Ford Fiesta RS WRC home in fourth place.

The opening round of the season is always a challenge, but it was even more so for ?stberg who had to familiarise himself with a new team, car and co-driver – fellow countryman Ola Fl?ene.
 
For the past seven years, ?stberg had been navigated through the stages by a Swedish voice calling a different style of pacenote. The change would take some perfecting, but he and Fl?ene used the competitive seat time wisely – growing in confidence throughout the weekend.
 
Proving how intelligent he is in his approach to all rallies, ?stberg read the road perfectly and was rewarded with a strong result ahead of next month’s Rally Sweden.

“There were lots of new things for us to discover this weekend so I’m really satisfied to have equalled my best result at Rallye Monte-Carlo,” ?stberg said. “It’s been a challenging rally, but I think that we coped with everything really well. Ola and I have made a good step forward and we’ll be looking to do the same again in Sweden.
 
“I also have to thank the team because the car has performed perfectly all weekend. This was a great start and now we’re really looking forward to Sweden where we hope to be able to fight for the podium.”

In the sister M-Sport Fiesta RS WRC, ?ric Camilli showed real promise on his WRC debut setting the fifth fastest time on what was only his fourth competitive stage in a world rally car – an incredible achievement given his limited experience.
 
Unfortunately, this lack of experience would be to his disadvantage on Friday afternoon when he and co-driver Nicolas Klinger slid off the road on an ice-strewn section of SS6, damaging the car’s roll cage.

“The times that we were able to set has shown me that we have the potential to be fast one day and this was definitely not a bad rally for me,” Camilli told @Ford. “My ambition is higher than ever and we will be sure to learn from our experiences this weekend.”

Elsewhere, M-Sport World Rally Team’s Elfyn Evans and Craig Parry secured an impressice victory in the WRC 2 category in their Fiesta R5 EVO rally car, despite suffering two punctures.

“I have to say that the car has been fantastic – beyond what we were all hoping for,” Evans said. “The progress that the team have made is incredible and I think it underlines the fact that the Fiesta is the best car in the category.”

Result:

1. S.Ogier  VW Polo R WRC
2. A Mikkelsen  VW Polo R WRC
3. T.Neuville  Hyundai i20 WRC
4. M. Ustberg  Ford Fiesta RS WRC
5. S.Lefebvre  Citroen DS3 WRC
6. D.Sordo  Hyundai i20 WRC
7. O.Tanank  Ford Fiesta RS WRC
8. E,Evans  Ford Fiesta R5 EVO
9. E.Lappi  Skoda Fabia R5
10.A Kremer  Skoda Fabia R5