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Working with Winners - Ford and Teng Tools in a r
ewarding rally cooperation Ford has been a mainstay of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) ever since its inception almost 40 years ago, and also one of its most successful and respected competitors, tallying 80 victories. In 2012, Ford World Rally Team is aiming to claim both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ crowns with its Fiesta and along on this trip is among others Teng Tools who is an important component in the machinery. In 2012 Ford World Rally Team is aiming to claim both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ crown with its Fiesta RS WRC and its strong driver line-up includes Jari-Matti Latvala and Petter Solberg. The former is widely recognised as one of the motorsport’s brightest rising stars regarded by many as the fastest driver in the WRC. What’s more, this year’s addition of Petter Solberg brings one of the sport’s most experienced and fl amboyant drivers back to the team at which he began his top-level career more than a decade ago. So you can then understand that Ford will be a team to count on. To be part of world rallying’s elite, a team requires high quality and reliable tools, and so, Ford World Rally Team has chosen Teng Tools as its supplier and partner in the WRC. To fi nd out what Ford thinks about the rally season and why they chose Teng Tools as an important partner we got hold of Malcolm Wilson, Team Manager. What does it mean for you and Ford WRC to get Petter back to Ford? - Obviously, Petter began his World Rally Championship career with Ford in 1999, and there have been discussions on a number of occasions in recent years to bring him back to the team again. With Mikko Hirvonen leaving at the end of last year, there was a suitable opportunity, and to be honest, it didn’t take long for us to come to an agreement with Petter. He’s very straightforward and a delight to work with, and it’s good – more than a decade on – to get him back where he belongs. What kind of results do you expect from Petter and Jari-Matti this season - We made it clear when we signed him that Petter was being brought in to support Jari-Matti’s title challenge this year. After Malcolm Wilson, Team Manager at Ford Rally Team. playing a dutiful supporting role to Mikko Hirvonen over the last few seasons, JariMatti we feel has now earned the right to challenge for the championship himself, and he will benefi t from the full backing of the team and Petter as he bids to do so. That does not, of course, mean Petter will not win a rally this year, and we hope to see both drivers stood on the top step of the podium as the season progresses. Will we see any difference in 2012 compared to 2011 with regard to the competition between the factory teams? - We still see the main competition coming 15 from Sebastian Loeb, and it is a fantastic challenge for us as we endeavour to become the fi rst driver and car to take the title away from him after his eight-year domination. Why do Ford World Rally Team prefer Teng Tools? - From our experience of working with Teng Tools so far, we have found them to be high-quality and easily adaptable to our needs. At the end of the day, if you want to win in rallying, you need to get everything right – driver, team, car, strategy, tyres… right down to the tools. The collaboration is going very well. So far, it has been an extremely positive and mutually benefi cial relationship, and our mechanics have been full of praise for Teng Tools. Can you tell us briefl y what the team mechanics do when the cars come in for service? - Prior to returning to service, the drivers and co-drivers will discuss with their relevant engineers about what changes they may want making to the car before the next stage. This could be something as simple as suspension setting ‘clicks’ to more complicated set-up modifi cations, depending upon the terrain and what the driver thinks will be required. Once in service, standard routine is for the mechanics to conduct a thorough checkover of the engine and every area of the car, in addition to carrying out tyre changes. Services vary in length between ten minutes and 45 minutes, so as you can imagine, time is precious and it is very much a case of all hands to the pumps! And there Teng Tools plays an important role.