The provisional entry list for Rally Sweden has answered one of the most frequently asked questions after Monte Carlo: Who will drive the fourth Ford Puma Rally1? While the continuity of Craig Breen, Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux in the first three M-Sport cars was assured, the identity of the driver who was going to get into the fourth Ford Puma was unknown. Yes it was clear that Sébastien Loeb was not going to dispute the Scandinavian appointment, even after his magnificent victory in the first round of the WRC together with Isabelle Galmiche.
Finally it will be Lorenzo Bertelli who competes at the controls of the latest M-Sport Ford Puma Rally1. An old acquaintance to WRC fans as ‘Gentleman Driver’, which in turn underscores the Cumbrian tuner’s competitive model with his fourth car. At the end, betting on Bertelli highlights the option chosen by the British team to have pilots with some financial support in his car in the tests in which Loeb does not get on the Ford Puma Rally1. And few drivers offer the guarantees of Lorenzo Bertelli at this point.
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It is true that Lorenzo Bertelli still has no experience at the controls of a hybrid ‘Rally1’ vehicle, so it will have to adapt to the dynamics and sensations offered by the new car compared to the World Rally Cars. But nevertheless, the transalpine driver has been behind the wheel of the Ford Fiesta WRC intermittently, so part of the work has already been done. A situation that makes sense of Bertelli’s return to the WRC last season to compete with the Fiesta WRC in the Arctic Rally and Safari Rally in Kenya.
What does seem clear is that Lorenzo Bertelli’s presence at the Swedish Rally opens the doors to other ‘paid’ drivers to drive the fourth Ford Puma Rally1 in other events. The list of possible candidates is headed, without a doubt, by Luke Anear. In Motor.es we already highlighted in December the relationship with the Australian and that there were negotiations to drive the team’s ‘Rally1’ in selected rounds. Conversations that have ended with the presence of SafetyCulture, an Anear company, among the team’s sponsors.
In fact, Luke Anear has tried the Ford Puma Rally1, something Lorenzo Bertelli has not yet been able to do despite being the designated driver to complete the M-Sport line-up in Sweden. Nor has he gotten into the hybrid vehicle of the Jari Huttunen team and the Finn is a strong candidate to also be able to drive the M-Sport ‘Rally1’, although talks on this point are still at an early stage. But nevertheless, no one is unaware that Huttunen will push as hard as possible to compete in Rally Finland, before his public, in the queen class.