Robert Kubica, who has been out of action for 18 months since his rallying accident in Italy, early last year, spent four days recently at a secret test at a little known circuit in France – at the wheel of a Ford WRC car.

The Polish driver tested a Ford Fiesta WRC on the Circuit des Ecuyers, which is located close to the town of Château-Thierry. He was working alongside Petter Solberg et Jari-Matti Latvala, the two Ford factory drivers in the WRC and he has been described only as “a mystery driver, who did not wish to have any publicity about the relationship”.

Kubica paid his own expenses and worked for free and according to the team his feedback was interesting. The team said that he did not know whether he would be able to do the job, but things went well.

The circuit is slightly over two miles in length and very twisty, which makes it useful for tarmac rally testing. It was opened in 2007.