In case you haven’t heard, Team O’Neil Rally School’s champion instructor Chris Duplessis left last week forWales to participate in the WRCAcademy finale at the famed Wales Rally GB, which will take place November 10-13. We thought we’d take a moment here to briefly explain what the Academy is all about, and provide a little history as to how Chris earned himself a spot there.
WRCAcademy
The Wales Rally GB is the final rally in a series of 13 events that spans four continents. The WRC Academy is a new, six-round series in 2011 that will run as a separate category in the main WRC rallies “to ensure drivers gain relevant experience and exposure alongside the main competition.” The aim of the Academy is to “be the first step on the WRC ladder for young drivers and… give the stars of tomorrow an unrivalled opportunity to develop their talent on the world stage in an extremely cost effective way.” [TON note: “extremely cost effective” means something like $250,000.] In order to create a level playing field, all drivers will compete in identical Ford Fiesta R2’s build by M-Sport, Ford’s exclusive partner that manages its global WRC program, and all cars will be fitted with Pirelli control tires. Only 24 places are available in this year’s Academy, and to be eligible, a driver must be born on or after 1 January 1986. There is no age limit for co-drivers. (Reference www.WRC.com/wrcacademy)
What exactly is an R2, you ask?
Well, some of you know darn well what an R2 is. But for those of you who aren’t quite up to speed (no pun intended), Ford Racing sums it up best: “The R2 is a full kit made by M-Sport to make a stock showroom Fiesta into a complete top engineered, first class, rally car. M-Sport, located in the UK, has been building top-level Ford rally cars since 1979. The R2 kit includes a SEDEV flat shift 5-speed sequential gearbox, Reiger dampeners, AP Brakes, wiring loom, pistons, rods, and camshafts and everything else needed to make a complete rally car. All of this combined with the great platform of the Fiesta and the top of line engineering of M-Sport make a potent rally car.” Looking for more stats and information? You can download the sell sheet at this link: Ford Fiesta R2 Sales Document.
A Little History…
In November 2010, Team O’Neil partnered with Ford to become the exclusive R2 kit reseller in the U.S., which is sold through Team O’Neil Motorsports, the arm of the company that develops and builds rally cars.
The first stateside R2 was built by Chris with help from TON. Chris debuted the R2 at the Susquehanna Trail Performance Rally, where he enjoyed an eight-minute lead in the 2WD class until a mishap ended his quest for the win. However, just a few weeks later Chris won the 2WD class at the resurrected Climb to the Clouds race on the Mt. Washington Auto Road, and the next month he took the 2WD trophy at the New England Forest Rally.
Chris is the first American rally driver to compete in a 2WD car in a WRC event. Factors including skill, talent, a solid history on the podium as a 2WD class driver and having more seat time in an R2 than any other US-born rally driver combined to earn Chris the opportunity to go to Wales. Financial backing and other support come from partners Team O’Neil, Ford Racing, M-Sport, RallyAmerica and RallyStream.TV.
For more resources, please check out: http://www.walesrallygb.com/, http://racing.ford.com/rally, and http://chrisduplessis.wordpress.com/.
written by: Jessyca Keeler
Comments on this entry are closed.