Rally Italia Sardegna ended in drama and nearly retirement on the last stage for Mads Østberg and his codriver Ola Fløene (Ford Fiesta WRC). The right rear suspension collapsed on the last stage of the rally, and Mads really had to struggle to finish the stage. They lost more than two minutes on the stage but had enough margin to keep their 7th place in the rally.
“It happened without forewarning when I was braking for a sharp corner after a couple of minutes driving on the power stage”, the Norwegian explained.
“The right rear suspension just collapsed and the wheel was steering us sideways and nearly off the road all the way to the end of the stage. It was a real struggle to finish and there were a couple of corners where I thought we wouldn’t manage to come through. We did a Safari style repair with strips and a jacking troop to drive the last road section without losing the wheel.”
Rally Italia Sardegna ended in drama and nearly retirement on the last stage for Mads Østberg and his codriver Ola Fløene
In four rallies the crew was very competitive on the first day, but then technical problems and punctures spoiled its chances.
“The small off in Argentine was my own fault, but other than that things have happened beyond my control. We need to use the time before the next rally to analyse closely each different problem and maybe do things different. We should probably change components earlier and we must overall be more thorough in analysing what happens with the car. This is also my own responsibility, of course, to give the information and signals I am getting from driving the car to my engineers.”
That was not the only drama in Sardinia for Østberg. On Saturday a puncture cost him more than 2 minutes on SS12.
The next WRC event is Rally Poland – another gravel event, but with a completely different character than the three last rallies.
“It’s not so rough with much smoother surface and above all much faster roads. We must work hard to sort out possible problems with the goal of finishing a rally and be fully competitive more than one day of the event. I have not forgotten how to drive fast”, Mads Østberg said.
Both fiestas tired from holiday at Sardegna finally in their kids room for a while… ??✌ @MadsOstberg @OfficialWRC pic.twitter.com/iIeG8Mm5Uu
— Martin Prokop (@ProkopOfficial) June 14, 2017
