With its tiny turbocharged three-cylinder engine,
the new Ford Fiesta ST may be a firecracker of a pocket rocket. But it’s hardly
what you might call a “supercar.” This version is, though.
Stemming from close collaboration between Ford
Performance and Olsbergs MSE, the new Fiesta ST Supercar made its debut in the
FIA World Rallycross Championship this past weekend in Barcelona. It’s the
first time that the new hot hatch has been put into competition.
The car’s ostensibly based on Ford’s new road-going
hot hatch, but has obviously undergone some major upgrades for rallycross duty.
Chief among them is the new engine. The rulebook calls for 2.0-liter turbo
fours, so Olsbergs ditched the 1.5-liter three-pot from the road version and
developed its own in-house. Instead of 200 horsepower, the rallyspec model
packs 600. Driving all four wheels, it’ll rocket to 60 in under two seconds.
It also has a new suspension setup and aero kit to
help it keep up with the rest of the pack. But Olsbergs says it developed the
new Fiesta ST supercar to be budget-friendly. “Having largely sat out the 2017
campaign, for us, it was very important that if we were to return to World RX
full-time, it had to be in the right circumstances and with a very real chance
of achieving success on a sensible budget,” said team principal Andreas
Eriksson. “Every time we enter a series, it is with the expectation of being
competitive and fighting for victory, and we are confident that in the 2018
Fiesta ST, we have the car to do just that.”
The new car didn’t perform spectacularly upon its
race (or rally) debut. Robin Larson tied for ninth place (with Timur
Timerzyanov in the GRX Hyundai i20). And Kevin Eriksson placed fourtheenth
(near the bottom) in the second car. Johan Kristoffersson and Petter Solberg
took the top two spots in the new VW Polo R, followed by Andreas Bakkerud and
Mattias Ekström in the Audi S1. But this is just the start of the season, and there’s
still another eleven rounds to go.
