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Mads Ostberg withdraws WRC2 entry from Rally Germany

Mads Ostberg has withdrawn from the World Rally Championship's German round after running out of time to fix a power steering problem on his Ford Fiesta R5.

The Norwegian had intended to contest Rally Germany in the WRC2 class but picked up the mechanical problem while contesting the European Rally Championship's Polish round earlier this month.

Ostberg retired from Rally Rzeszow after losing the power steering in a high-speed section.

"It was scary because it happened suddenly when we went into a very fast corner," Ostberg told Autosport.

"Without the assistance the steering became almost locked and I just about managed to wrestle the car through the corner at nearly 180 km/h (111mph).

"Our car is two generations older than the R5s running in WRC2.

"We can update mechanics, but there will be issues with the software that we can't change at such short notice.

"We cannot control 100% this will not happen again, until we have further updates.

"For that reason we have chosen not to start in Germany."

As well as offering extra asphalt mileage ahead of Rally Germany, the August 3-5 Rzeszow event was Ostberg's first chance to work with Patrik Barth as his co-driver.

Rally Germany was meant to be the next part of Ostberg's ongoing search for a new co-driver after Torstein Eriksen co-drove in Finland, while the third candidate - Emil Axelsson - was scheduled to join him in Germany.

Ostberg confirmed his team was now working on a new plan to find the full-time replacement for Ola Floene.

"We have to find another solution for the evaluation process," he added.

"All three guys are all possible candidates for a permanent seat."

Ostberg's next scheduled outing is the WRC's Rally Catalunya in October.

Zdroj: autosport.com