Found at: http://www.rallystar.co.za/article/articleprint/1762/-1/72/

Jordan-Ford drivers sample “awesome” Focus RS WRC

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Author: Ford News

Publishing date: 02.07.2003 02:59

Ford News
The rally 'test' babies!

Jordan-Ford drivers sample “awesome” Focus RS WRC Formula One drivers Ralph Firman and Giancarlo Fisichella put a Ford Focus RS WRC through its paces on the eve of the European Grand Prix at Nurburgring.

The Jordan-Ford duo drove a 2002-spec Focus on closed roads near the Nurburgring race circuit in Germany under the watchful eye of Acropolis Rally winner Markko Märtin and co-driver Michael Park.

After a thorough in-car briefing, Märtin gave both racers a passenger ride in the Focus. He then swapped seats and for one of the very few times in his career was a passenger in a WRC, as the drivers took advantage of his experience to learn more as they drove the Focus for the first time. After a debrief Firman and Fisichella got behind the wheel again, this time with Michael Park calling pace notes from the passenger seat.

“It’s been a fantastic experience,” Fisichella said. “It’s a pleasure to sit alongside Markko and to watch how he works. When it was my turn to drive it took a couple of laps to learn the car and the circuit but when I started to push I was amazed. The Focus has such good grip and the brakes are excellent, and that combined by it’s incredible handling and throttle response makes it great fun to drive - totally different to an F1 car! In my Jordan-Ford if you slide you lose time but in rallying you need to go sideways to go fast. I think maybe the rally drivers are a bit more crazy!”

Ralph Firman normally drives a Ford Mondeo ST220. What impressed him most about the Focus was grip: “Compared to an F1 car the Focus doesn’t turn in as sharply but the grip is just awesome, especially coming out of slow corners. You plant the throttle and it just takes off – really it’s an incredible machine and it was a fantastic experience.”

The 2002 model driven by Carlos Sainz

Neither Firman or Fisichella had driven a world rally car before but Markko Martin was very impressed with their performance: “I’m not a very good passenger so I was a little bit nervous to start with. But both Giancarlo and Ralph are excellent drivers and they adapted to the car very quickly. There was one point with Ralph as we were approaching a jump that I grabbed hold of my seat but these guys are good. They were on the pace very quickly!”

On Sunday Märtin and Park will attend the European Grand Prix as guests of the Jordan-Ford team. Jost Capito, Director of Ford Team RS explained: “We are the only manufacturer competing in both Formula One and the World Rally Championship so we thought it would be a good idea to get the drivers together and to give them a chance to meet up and share experiences. I think they’ve got a better appreciation of what they do. Now we’ll have to talk to Eddie to see if we can get Markko in the EJ13!”

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