Østberg secures run of top five finishes for Stobart

Mads Østberg has returned to points-scoring form for the M-Sport Stobart Ford World Rally Team after finishing fifth at the end of an action-packed weekend on the sun-drenched island of Sardinia.

The Cumbria-based squad have finished in the top five of all FIA World Rally Championship rounds so far this season with Britain’s Matthew Wilson finishing fifth for the team twice and Norway’s Østberg finishing inside the top five on three occasions.

Fresh from his victory at the fourth round of the Norwegian Rally Championship – Rally Sørland – Østberg reported a perfect feeling in the Ford Fiesta RS WRC at the pre event Shakedown test on Thursday morning. His confidence in the car’s handling was reflected by six top-five stage times on Friday’s repeat loop of eight stages covering 131.06 km.

On Saturday, Østberg and co-driver Jonas Andersson set a good pace remaining in fifth for the six stages, reporting only minor set-up issues and no rear brakes for the day’s closing test. Sunday morning proved difficult for the Scandinavian pairing – Østberg overshot a junction on Stage 16 due to a misheard pacenote but the 23-year-old driver held fifth throughout the day and secured himself ten well-deserved drivers’ points.

Matthew Wilson enjoyed two top-five results in the previous WRC rounds in Jordan and Portugal but brake and steering issues on the rally’s opening day looked like it was set to prevent the 24-year-old from securing his third successive top-five placing. During the following two days, Wilson and co-driver Scott Martin reported a better feeling in their Fiesta RS WRC and the Cumbrian duo finished the event ninth overall.

A broken steering arm and slow puncture dropped M-Sport Stobart driver P-G Andersson out of podium contention on Friday’s opening loop but the Swede returned to flying form during Saturday and Sunday. On Sunday morning, Andersson posted two second-fastest stage times but suffered from a slow puncture on Stage 15. On the rally’s final stage, Andersson hit a barrier and lost ten seconds but finished the event happy with his pace and placed 15th overall.

Russian flyer Evgeny Novikov proved his ability to chase the WRC front-runners when he was sitting in a career-best third place by the end of Stage 4, leading his M-Sport Stobart team-mate Østberg by an impressive 9.7 seconds. However, the 20-year-old misheard a pacenote on Stage 7 and crashed his Fiesta RS WRC forcing Novikov and co-driver Stephane Prevot to retire. The M-Sport Stobart team worked hard overnight on Friday to repair the pair’s car which had suffered extensive chassis damage.

Saturday saw Novikov post a fourth-fastest time on Stage 11 and the pairing climbed the WRC leaderboard to lie 15th overnight. A small differential problem for Novikov on Sunday morning made the going difficult for the M-Sport Stobart driver but the Russian managed to make it to the end of the rally, finishing 13th overall.

Team-mates Henning Solberg and Ilka Minor had an unfortunate weekend after colliding with a bridge and causing damage to the rear-right damper on Friday morning. Further damage was caused to the car with a fire which was extinguished by the marshals at the stage finish and this was followed by engine problems in the afternoon.

The M-Sport Stobart team declared the damage to their Ford Fiesta RS WRC irreparable on Friday evening and regrettably Solberg was unable to return to the rally.

To read the drivers' quotes from Sardinia click here.