Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team driver Valtteri Bottas has been seen testing a new rally car around a forest stage in Finland.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has caused Formula 1 to delay their season, but meanwhile waiting for it to start, but Bottas has been able to keep the momentum going by testing the car on some gravel roads.
On Friday, Bottas posted pictures of himself on Facebook with the new plain white Škoda Fabia R5 flying over a crest.
Bottas has been active with rallying recently and has entered three rallies so far. He made his rally debut last year at the Arctic Lapland Rally, driving in a Ford Fiesta WRC ’17 car from M-Sport. On his first rally he finished fifth overall and won the unofficial WRC class ‘LK7’.
On his second rally he entered the French Rallycircuit Côte d’Azur, he took his maiden victory in an older Citroën DS3 WRC.
He was back this year again at the season-opener of the Finnish Rally Championship ‘Ralli-SM‘ at Arctic Lapland Rally with the same Citroën DS3 WRC, but this time it didn’t go in his favour as he made a 180 degree spin on the shakedown and later rolled on SS5.
He regained some positions and finished the rally in ninth overall, and second in the ‘LK6’ class for the WRC cars and the brand-new Spanish regulated N5 cars that are coming to Finland.
Beside doing some rallies, Bottas has also been active testing the Toyota Yaris WRC, Citroën C3 WRC and the Ford Fiesta WRC, which he also entered the 2019 Arctic Lapland Rally with; he has also tested the M-Sport’s Ford Fiesta R5 car.
After his last rally Bottas said that will be continuing with rallying if he gets a budget together. If he will be entering some Finnish Rally Championship events with the new car remains to be seen.
