Mads Ostberg absent in Germany

The R5 peloton in Germany will not be able to count on the presence of Mads ostberg next weekend. The Norwegian driver, who was to take part in the event across the Rhine in a Ford Fiesta R5, will not be at the start of this asphalt round of the WRC due to technical problems encountered during the Rally Rzeszow in Poland last week.

Victim of power steering problems, Ostberg preferred to give up, citing safety reasons. « It was scary because it happened suddenly when we entered a very fast corner, underlines Ostberg.

Without the assistance, the steering almost locked up, and I managed to fight the car through a corner at nearly 180 km/h. We were unable to fix the steering and had to abandon. Our R5 is an old version, in fact two generations older than the current WRC-2.

We can update some things, but there will be issues with the software that we can't fix as quickly. We cannot be 100% sure that this will not happen again, until we have additional developments. We have chosen not to line up in Germany. »

Ostberg, still looking for a new permanent co-driver, will return to competition at the Rally of Spain at the beginning of October.