Bridging the gap between entry-level rallying and the Rally2 machinery which feeds into the top tier, Rally3 is acknowledged as one of the most important classes in the sport.
M-Sport was first to market with its Ford Fiesta Rally3 – which has been competing for close to a year now – but there are more manufacturers expected to reveal WRC3-ready cars in the future.
“It’s fantastic news to have this WRC3 championship title,” said Woda. “Of course, we know already the Fiesta Rally3 is the car to be used in the Junior World Rally Championship, but to have a stand-alone category like WRC3 is so important for us.”
Last year’s FIA Junior WRC champion Sami Pajari leads the WRC3 charge at next week’s Rallye Monte-Carlo (20 - 23 January), with Enrico Brazzoli and Jan Černy also running Fiesta Rally3’s prepared at M-Sport’s Kraków factory.
“This is a really exciting season for us,” Woda continued. “We are now building the 54th Fiesta Rally3, which demonstrates the demand for this car and this category.
“Like you can imagine, we were very happy the FIA ratified a bigger restrictor for the car – we have gone from 30 to 31mm – and this gives the car 235bhp instead of just over 200.
“In terms of torque, we’ll have 415Nm instead of 400. That change makes an already good car, just fantastic. It’s so much fun to drive and with this power and four-wheel drive, I think it can make some surprises this year.”
Finland
Italy
Hungary