After a disappointing first half to the WRC season, Mads Ostberg is determined to make a fresh start when the championship roars back into life in Finland next week.
The Norwegian has endured a difficult seven rallies this year at the wheel of his Qatar M-Sport Ford Fiesta RS. While stage wins have come thick and fast, a series of problems including technical failures, driver mistakes and sheer bad luck, have prevented Ostberg and navigator Jonas Andersson from turning these into decent rally results.
“The first half of the year was quite bad and it seemed that every time something happened it turned out in the worst possible way,” Ostberg told wrc.com. “Okay, things happen in rally, but normally if you hit a rock nine times out of ten you survive it. For us, ten times out of ten it was the worst outcome.
“Okay, we had good speed on most events, which is a positive, and I know that the bad things that happened were not due to me pushing too hard. It’s just down to lots of bad luck. I know we can carry on pushing and when this bad luck stops it will get a lot better for us.
“I’m trying to think of the second half as a new season, a chance to start again. I just need to reset and forget everything that’s happened. Just try to do everything right, make sure we have a good car and find a good pace. That’s all I can do.”
Ostberg is testing in Jyvaskyla this week, with one day in the Fiesta on Monday and another today (Wednesday). He has tackled Finland seven times before, and his recent results of 7th in 2010, 6th in 2011 and 5th in 2012 reflect his growing confidence on the ultra fast gravel roads.
“I definitely like it, and we have been fast in previous years, but we usually arrive without enough testing and without the perfect set-up so we end up using part of the event to find the set-up and losing too much time.
"This year, with some good preparation and a test I hope we can be there right from the beginning. At this stage I don’t want to think too much about the final result. I just want to push as hard as I can, and feel happy with my own speed.”