The 2009 Fiesta SportTrophy International (FSTi) series gets underway next week as the competition joins the FIA World Rally Championship for the fourth successive year kicking off the first of six rounds at the Vodafone Rally de Portugal. This will be the second time that FSTi has visited Portugal, the last time being in 2007 when FSTi champion Barry Clark raised the bar to finish a record-breaking 25th in the overall classification.
The series, run by M-Sport with support from Pirelli, will again run alongside the WRC returning to Rally d’Italia Sardegna, Neste Oil Rally Finland, Rally de España and Wales Rally GB for an early finish in October. The third event, Rally Poland, is a new addition to both the WRC and FSTi.
In a change to previous years, of the six counting rounds, the best points from the four rounds will count towards the championship standings. This will allow those drivers who have completed the full season to drop any low scores, but will also assist those drivers who are only able to compete on an event-by-event basis to score highly overall if they achieve good results on occasional rallies.
A new scoring system will also be introduced in order to reward outright pace. One point will be awarded for every stage win and, with between 18 and 24 stages per rally, these will be points worth fighting for. A win will still be given maximum credit and points will be offered 30-25-22-20-18-16-14-12-11-10 for first to tenth position.
The prize for the championship winner will be an all-expenses-paid test in the latest specification Ford Focus RS WRC with Ford factory driver Mikko Hirvonen, with the chance to discuss the test over dinner with the flying Finn and M-Sport Managing Director Malcolm Wilson. A prize fund has also been introduced and the winner of each rally will receive a €1,500 M-Sport voucher.
There is also the chance for those who support the series by entering at least four events to test the Ford Focus WRC in addition. As in previous years, the series winner plus one ‘wildcard’ will be put forward to the FST International Shootout to compete against drivers from other FST championships around the world in order to win a year’s residential contract to work at M-Sport with the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team.
The opening rally of the series has attracted six competitors from four different countries who will compete on 18 stages over 361 kilometres of gravel in Ford Fiesta ST GpN cars. As well as the regular stages the competitors will also experience the thrill of a packed Super Special, in front of an audience of thousands in the Algarve Stadium.
Following in the footsteps of 2008 champions Castrol Ford Team Turkiye, Team Abu Dhabi have mobilised a three-car assault on the 2009 series to reinforce Abu Dhabi’s support for the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team and to launch the Abu Dhabi Junior Rally Team in to the WRC.
Majed Al Shamsi (28) undertook his first rally in Lebanon last year, winning the Fiesta class and will be hoping to repeat that performance as he teams up with Irish co-driver Allan Harryman.
His fellow Emirati, Bader Al Jabri (24), also began his rally career in 2008 and has had a successful start to the year winning the N3 class at the Qatar International Rally in February. He teams up with Irishman Steve McAuley as co-driver.
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