Ford has signed a deal with M-Sport to dedicate two more years in the World Rally Championship. The automaker will stick with its old contracted racers, Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, and Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila. They will be driving the Ford Focus RS in the 2010 campaign, then switch to the Ford Fiesta S2000 in the 2011 campaign.. The same sponsors, BP and Abu Dhabi, will be staying aboard for the ride. -Sport managing director and team director Malcolm Wilson had a few words to say about the deal:

“We have a young and dynamic driver lineup which continues to gain in experience and maturity,” Wilson said. “The Focus RS WRC has displayed its speed, strength and reliability time and again, while we have the infrastructure in place to develop the Fiesta S2000 into a car capable of taking the fight to our rivals in 2011.”

via AutoWeek

Tags: Abu Dhabi, bp, Ford, m sport, Racing, world rally championship, wrc

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The Citroen C4 Hybrid Rally Car is being powered with new technology in the PowerPhase 125 Electric Propulsion System. First shown at the Paris and then Bologna and Geneva Motorshows, the Citroen C4 WRC Hybrid4 made its debut on the road in Finland before that country’s world rally car round in a slow speed demonstration.

Subsequent testing in Faro, Portugal was the first at rally speeds and under rally conditions. The C4 Hybrid was developed using Citroen’s WRC championship contender as a base and adding a 990 cell lithium ion battery and a UQM Powerphase 125 electric propulsion system which drives the rear wheels.

“This system, developed by Citroen Racing, allows the driver to choose between four different modes of functionality,” explains Didier Clement, one of the race engineers behind the project. “In internal combustion mode, the C4 WRC Hybrid4 behaves exactly like one of the C4 WRC cars that compete on the World Rally Championship. In internal combustion mode, with energy recovery mode switched on, braking endurance is improved and the batteries get charged. On road sections and in the service park, electric mode with energy recovery means that there is less nuisance, increased range and less wear on the conventional engine. Finally, in boost mode – which employs both the internal combustion engine and the electric motor – gives an extra 300 Nm of torque when engaged.”

The two engines are linked to the same drivetrain. The driver can choose electric mode simply by switching on the ignition without starting the internal combustion engine. The gearbox paddles then gives the driver a choice of three settings: forward, backwards and neutral.

(Source) Press

Tags: citroen c4, conventional engine, electric mode, electric propulsion system, faro portugal, hybrid world, internal combustion engine, lithium ion battery, motorshows, neutral source, race engineers, rally conditions, rear wheels, recovery mode, road sections, uqm, world rally car, world rally championship, wrc championship

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