F1 News

Bottas to make rally car debut

Bottas to make rally car debut

11-12-2018 14:14
3

Valtteri Bottas has revealed he will drive an M-Sport Ford Fiesta World Rally Car in his competitive rallying debut in Finland.

Bottas will compete in the Arctic Lapland Rally from January 24th until January 26th in a Fiesta similar to the one Sebastian Ogier used to win the last two World Rally Championships.

Timo Rautianen will be his co-driver, he navigated Marcus Gronholm to WRC titles in 2000 and 2002.

"This is a unique opportunity to take a peek into the world of rallying, and I would like to thank everyone who has made it possible," said Bottas.

"It's totally new territory for me too, as I have no prior experience of a World Rally Car.

"Still, being the race car driver that I am, you always go flat out whatever the vehicle you're driving in." Added Bottas.

Co-driver Rautianen commented on the Finn’s ability to tackle a challenge like this saying: "I believe that for a talented wheelman like Valtteri, we'll be able to establish a good basic driving routine in testing.

"The challenging part of course will be learning the ins and outs of pace note making and learning to drive with pace notes all at once."