Autosportfoto

WRC testing round-up

Before Rally Italia Sardegna (7-10 june), we take a look at how some of the WRC manufacturer teams have been testing new developments on their cars as well as preparing for the narrow island roads.

After the tricky Portuguese gravel encounter, Sardinia promises to provide an even greater challenge with sandy stages becoming rough and rutted for later runners.

With that in mind, M-Sport Ford crews took a trip to the island to get a handle on the sun-baked stages. Ford Fiesta pilots Elfyn Evans, Sébastien Ogier and Teemu Suninen all tackled the fast stages last week as they looked to perfect set-ups ahead of the seventh round of the year. Evans tested on the 23rd and 24th with Ogier taking over on the 25th and 26th. Suninen completed the team's testing on the 27th.

Meanwhile, Toyota's focus has been on general development of its Yaris at test sessions in the Finnish forests near Jyväskylä - close to its WRC headquarters in Puuppola.

Ott Tänak, Jari-Matti Latvala, Esapekka Lappi and Juho Hänninen all clocked up the kilometres for the team during eight days of testing - four days last week and four this week.

As always, the WRC's band of loyal YouTubers were out to catch the other crews testing their gravel set-ups. Thanks to Rallyssimo, Videos Nettirabbi and TheTeevoman for sharing their footage.

Zdroj: wrc.com