The RS International backed Ford Fiesta S1600 made an encouraging start to its European programme on the French Championship rally held in the seaside resort of Le Touquet. 

Facing strong opposition in the event from works supported cars from Renault and a Peugeot, the Fiesta, driven by Justin Dale, posted some impressive times on the fast flowing roads, on one stage averaging over 126 km/h in the S1600 Fiesta.  As the event progressed and the team began to fine tune the setup to the road conditions the gap to the class leading cars closed to just over 1 second per km.  Justin said of the performance “The car was running very well and we were gradually closing the gap to the top French cars as we adjusted our setup to suit the nature of the roads and the tricky changes in surface that is such a feature of this event” 

Unfortunately the event came to an early end for the Fiesta when Justin turned right into a narrow junction and caught the right front wheel in the wooden barrier.  The force on the wheel immediately broke the steering and suspension rendering the otherwise undamaged car immobile and out of the rally.

“The rationale behind attending this rally was to continue to develop the set-up to suit the smoother roads that will be typical of the World Championship events to be contested later this month” RMS team manager Paul Risbridger commented, “and to see our speed compared to the top cars in France, the home of the S1600 class.  Naturally we hoped to complete the rally but to develop the car the driver must push hard and unfortunately this kind of accident can happen” 

The next planned outing for the RS International programme will be the WRC Rallye de France Tour de Corse on 21st – 23rd October.