Team STARD arrived at the Spiritual home of Rallycross at Lydden Hill with a positive approach to the 2017 World RX of Great Britain and left the circuit with high spirits
Both of the Ford Fiesta RXS Supercars were on the pace during Qualifying as they stayed within the vital top twelve places, with Q3 being the only blip of the weekend where Janis Baumanis went thirteenth fastest and Timur Timerzyanov posted the fourteenth fastest time.
After Qualifying, Baumanis had qualified in ninth place overall whilst Timerzyanov managed to secure eleventh place overall meaning that both drivers would line up in Semi-Final One. This pitted them alongside the likes of Petter Solberg, Andreas Bakkerud, Timmy Hansen and Ken Block.
Despite Timerzyanov and Baumanis coming home in fifth and sixth places respectively, Team Principal Manfred Stohl was once again very happy with the performances of his two drivers.
“This time what they have done is excellent,” praised Stohl. “This is a clear signal, that they have learned something new. However in the third qualification heat we have sent Timur a little to early into the Joker Lap, this may have cost him possibly a better result.”
With this sign of increased performance on track to see at least one of the Team STARD Fiesta’s into the Semi-Finals for the fourth time this year out of five attempts, Stohl is well aware of the hard work needed to progress to the all important Final.
However as this is a privateer team fighting against the bigger works teams of Volkswagen, Audi, Ford and Peugeot, the former WRC driver is proud that his drivers are taking the fight to the bigger teams on a regular basis.
“But it gets very, very tight to the top. It is obvious that the works teams do not miss out on anything,” said Stohl. “To keep up there as a private team, as we are doing, has already to be considered as a success.”