Team Ford Racing is gearing up for their second outing in this year’s Sasol National Rally Championship. The Toyota Dealer Rally gets underway on 4 April in the Western Cape, and is sure to provide plenty of thrilling action.
Team Ford Racing made its National Championship debut at the opening round of the season in March with two Class N3 vehicles and one Class A5 competitor. Though they experienced some teething problems along the way, the team was very pleased with the results.
Competing in the N3 Ford Fiesta ST Etienne Lourens and Elvéne Coetzee experienced some problems in the opening round but managed to set some impressive times in the opening stage of the event.
“We experienced some minor problems at the opening round but this is normal when entering a new vehicle at this level of competition,” explains Roger Rouessart.“ In the lead up to this weekend’s rally we have conducted some testing and the pace that we found is very encouraging.”
Martin Steyn and Van Aardt Schoeman, piloting the sister Fiesta ST, got their first taste of National Rally competition at the previous event. The duo made good progress during the course of the event and slowly started to match the times of their seasoned rivals.
“Martin and Van Aardt had a good debut,” continues Rouessart. They will arrive in the Cape with a lot more confidence and we expect to see them making constant progress.”
Completing the line-up of Ford competitors will be Tony Barbosa and navigator Les McKenzie in their Class A5 1.3-litre Ford Ka. The zippy Ford Ka didn’t miss a beat on the Hitachi Tour Natal and the team will be hoping for more of the same on this weekend’s event.
“Tony and Ian had a great run in Natal. The car was faultless throughout the event allowing them to concentrate on their own performances. We will certainly be hoping for another similar performance from them,” concludes Rouessart.
