M-Sport managing director Malcolm Wilson is confident of running private teams in Fiestas alongside the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team in next season's series.

Such a move will require regulation change from the FIA, which currently says that a WRC team may only participate using cars homologated prior to 2009.

The regulation needs changing as the FIA has stipulated that current World Rally Cars--including those homologated prior to 2009--will be outlawed in next year's WRC.

Wilson is aiming to supply Fiesta RS WRCs to the WRC teams currently competing at the highest level in Focus RS WRCs, namely Stobart, Munchi's and Monster World Rally Teams.

Wilson said: “We haven't really discussed this one yet, but our intention is to run with the Fiesta RS WRC for the M2 [WRC] Teams. We have no alternative--as the regulation stands we would have to run a Focus for an M2 team, but when the current car is outlawed, we can't do that. We've already had a lot of interest, and discussions with teams like Monster are ongoing for next year. But, like I said, nothing is finalized.”

The first Fiesta RS WRC is expected to be running in its completed form in September.

Solberg and Mills will be back

Petter Solberg's co-driver Phil Mills insists it's a case of “all systems go” for Rally Portugal later this month despite the pair's dramatic late exit from Rally New Zealand.

Solberg and Mills, the 2003 world rally champions, were heading for a podium finish on the Auckland-based event only to crash out on the very last stage of the world championship qualifier.

Their failure to score meant they slipped from second to fifth place in the title standings and triggered concerns that they would not have a car ready for their trip to the Algarve from May 27-30.

However, Mills allayed those fears by confirming that the Petter Solberg World Rally Team would call up its second Citroën C4 WRC for the Faro contest.

“We've got two cars, so there are no issues at all on that front,” said Mills. “But the car we had in New Zealand wasn't that badly damaged any way [despite striking an electricity pylon in the crash].”

Although Mills complained of a stiff neck following the accident on the notorious Whaanga Coast stage, neither he nor Solberg suffered any serious injury.

Radnor returns to Britain

Rally Great Britain fans will be in for a treat this season with the introduction of an all-new Cardiff Bay superspecial stage and the return of Richard Burns's favorite test, Radnor.

The superspecial is expected to run right next to the service park at the front of the Millennium Centre in Cardiff--where the leading teams will work on their cars in the evening only, as remote services in Builth Wells are used on Friday and Saturday--while Radnor is run twice on Saturday.

There is a third new test for this year, the 10.10-kilometer Monument Hill test on the Epynt ranges. For the first time in the modern history of the event, there will be a significant amount of asphalt in the Crychan stage on Saturday, utilizing 11 kilometers of the superfast and exciting Epynt military roads.

Radnor is best known as a stage where Burns was unbeaten in the World Rally Championship. In the fog in 1997, Burns was so quick that he took a minute out of his British rival Colin McRae in the stage.

The final day of the rally has been shortened slightly but remains a big challenge, with organizers running just five kilometers short of the maximum usage of 80 kilometers for the Pirelli control tire. The crews will tackle Resolfen and Margam twice on one set of soft-compound Scorpion covers.

The route for this year's Rally GB will be unveiled at the event's official launch in Cardiff later today.

Ogier aims for podiums

Citroën Junior Team driver Sébastien Ogier says podium finishes are more important than his first victory in the WRC this season.

Ogier, 26, almost broke through at Rally New Zealand, leading the event until a spin almost within sight of the finish cost him first place. He ended the Auckland-based event just 2.4 seconds behind Ford's Jari-Matti Latvala, who grabbed the win on the 21st and final stage.

Ogier has now scored points on all five rounds of this year's series, including two podiums, to hold fourth place in the overall standings--just one point behind Ford's team leader Mikko Hirvonen.

Talking about when he thought his first world rally win will come, the former junior world rally champion said: “It's possible it can come before the end of this year, but that's not really the target for me. If I win [before the end of the year] then that's great, but if not then it's not so bad. I would prefer to take five or some more podiums before the end of the year than just taking one victory.”

Ogier has been tipped for a manufacturer seat next year by Citroën's factory team manager Sven Smeets.

“For the moment, Sébastien Ogier is progressing on a learning curve that is unbelievable,” said Smeets. “Since the start of this year he has put himself up on the leaderboard with all the top drivers, which is very good for us. But I think that he still has to make some learning progress on asphalt. Then by the end of the year, we will have somebody who is maybe ready for a manufacturer team.”

Japan rally to return?

Rally Japan course manager Dimar Krivtsov has talked of his desire to keep the Hokkaido-based event running at an international level, despite it missing out on next year's WRC.

Krivtsov said his team would continue to work towards a return to the WRC, but he added that the event would be looking at a possible return to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

“We ran as an IRC supporter event last year,” said Krivtsov. “But that's gone for this year because we are in the WRC. We'll have to see how it goes. We definitely want to be part of an international championship.”

WRC promoter Simon Long said he was sorry Japan wouldn't be part of WRC in 2011, but added that the door remained open between North One Sport and Japan.

Long said, “Japan is another very, very good rally--but this is the nature of a 14-round calendar: There are too many rallies for the spaces. Japan came very close to the original calendar we proposed to World Motor Sport Council.”

Sanremo goes asphalt-only

Rallye Sanremo will feature asphalt stages only when it runs as round 10 of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, Sept. 23-25.

The organizers, Automobile Club Sanremo (ACI), had planned to run a mixture of asphalt and gravel stages but cost implications have forced them to stick to an all-Tarmac format for the 52nd running of the famous rally.

Sergio Maiga, the ACS president, said: “Maybe we could have carried out the idea to bring Rallye Sanremo back to [the gravel stages of] Siena, but in order to do that we would have been obliged to reduce costs in sectors like safety, where we are not willing to accept any compromise.

“Furthermore, we wouldn't be able to solve any of the economic problems that a race, like the one we had in mind, would have entailed for the teams that will take part in the event and, even more, for the several private drivers that are always showing their affection to our race. A leg on gravel and another one on asphalt would have made necessary a change of car setup during the race and therefore an increase in costs.”

Rally New Zealand also eyes return

Rally New Zealand boss Chris Carr is determined to return to the WRC, despite being out next year. There had been speculation that the event's 40th running last week could be its last in the top series but Carr says not. He added: “We're working towards 2012. There's talk of an extra event next year and there's a bunch of people here who would like it to be NZ, but with rugby world cup, the logistics could be difficult. We're focused on the year after.”

Ford says oil-rig disaster won't harm relationship with BP

Ford of Europe's top motorsport manager Gerard Quinn says he does not expect the U.S. oil leak to harm the relationship between Ford and BP. The British oil firm, Ford's WRC title sponsor, could face a bill of up to $20 billion over the drilling-rig catastrophe. Quinn said: “We have a very close association and we have to make an assessment of what's going on. It's too early to preempt anything, but I would like to think it won't affect our partnership.”

Teenager Tom Cave preps for Wales

Teenager Tom Cave got his preparations for Rally d'Italia-Sardegna under way with a successful test in Wales recently.

Cave will contest at least six rounds of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge in a Proton Satria Neo Super 2000, starting with the island event June 4-6.

The 18-year-old British driver covered approximately 80 kilometers during the test, which he described as “constructive.”

He added: “The stage we used was a bit rough, dry and dusty so a reasonable start for Sardinia. We started tweaking the settings to work towards a base setup for the rally and I didn't feel out of my depth in the car at all. In fact, the harder you work it, the better it is.”

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