Mission possible: How ERC’s Cais came back from the brink
ByERC
Published 24/05/2019 at 10:01 GMT
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Image credit: ERC
ERC3 Junior Erik Cais will make his Rally Liepāja debut after his Orsák Rallysport team and car builder M-Sport joined forces to get a brand new Ford Fiesta R2T from Poland to Latvia just in time.
Cais crashed heavily in testing on Wednesday, rolling five times and damaging his original Fiesta beyond immediate repair.
Faced with the possibility that Cais would not be able to start the rally, a plan was hastily hatched to source a replacement car from M-Sport Poland.
With little time to spare, a team from Orsák Rallysport in Czech Republic were despatched from its base close to Zlín in the south of the country to M-Sport Poland’s headquarters in Krakow – a distance of some 265 kilometres – where a new Fiesta was being readied for collection.
At the same time, a second team from Orsák Rallysport was on route from Liepāja to Poland with the damaged Fiesta.
Having collected the new car, the first Orsák Rallysport crew headed north to Warsaw – and another 290 kilometres of driving – where a meeting point had been arranged for a car and trailer swap to take place.
While the first Orsák Rallysport headed home to Czech Republic with the damaged car, the second team embarked on the 727-kilometre journey back to Liepāja with a new car and trailer. And with the new Fiesta already rally-ready, there was even time to reapply the grey wrapping and the decals of Cais’s sponsors ahead of scrutineering getting underway this morning.
“Our Fiesta was not in good shape to start the rally,” said Cais. “But thanks to the great relationship between Orsák Rallysport and M-Sport we have a new car to start the rally so thanks to everybody.”
Faced with the possibility that Cais would not be able to start the rally, a plan was hastily hatched to source a replacement car from M-Sport Poland.
With little time to spare, a team from Orsák Rallysport in Czech Republic were despatched from its base close to Zlín in the south of the country to M-Sport Poland’s headquarters in Krakow – a distance of some 265 kilometres – where a new Fiesta was being readied for collection.
At the same time, a second team from Orsák Rallysport was on route from Liepāja to Poland with the damaged Fiesta.
Having collected the new car, the first Orsák Rallysport crew headed north to Warsaw – and another 290 kilometres of driving – where a meeting point had been arranged for a car and trailer swap to take place.
While the first Orsák Rallysport headed home to Czech Republic with the damaged car, the second team embarked on the 727-kilometre journey back to Liepāja with a new car and trailer. And with the new Fiesta already rally-ready, there was even time to reapply the grey wrapping and the decals of Cais’s sponsors ahead of scrutineering getting underway this morning.
“Our Fiesta was not in good shape to start the rally,” said Cais. “But thanks to the great relationship between Orsák Rallysport and M-Sport we have a new car to start the rally so thanks to everybody.”
The post Mission possible: How ERC’s Cais came back from the brink appeared first on FIA ERC | European Rally Championship.
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