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M-Sport Ford World #rally Team stars Gus Greensmith and Adrien Fourmaux have both reached the top five finishers at the end of the #safarirally, Round 6 of the 2021 World #rally Championship. A thrilling final day brought five timed stages from which the Ecoboost-powered Ford Fiesta WRC claimed its first stage win of the season.
After wildly changeable weather on Saturday, the closing leg was held in warm, dry conditions. Gus Greensmith and co-driver Chris Patterson set off in fifth position on the road with team-mates Adrien Fourmaux and Renaud Jamoul right behind them, and through the opening stage of the day Fourmaux began to build a charge towards the front.
The Frenchman was able to fit four of the more competitive soft compound tyres to his Fiesta WRC and capitalised upon the advantage this gave him. In contrast Greensmith had suffered a puncture and higher wear on the opening day's stages, which ate into his allocation of eight soft tyres for the #event and put him on hard compound tyres for the closing day.
On the third test of the day, the 9.71 km Malewa stage, Fourmaux lit up the sector times and crossed the line to claim his first ever WRC stage win and the first win of the 2021 season for the #msport Ford World #rally Team. His time was 4.1 seconds faster than 2019 world champion Ott Tanak in second place, and elevated him to fourth overall, with Greensmith close behind in fifth place.
On the next stage, the 11.33 km Loldia test, Fourmaux underlined the Fiesta's potential by holding the fastest time until the seven-time world champion Sebastien Ogier snatched it back from his fellow countryman by a margin of just 3.8 seconds. Despite a late scare when his rear tyre came off the rim at the end of the rally-closing powerstage, Fourmaux held on to his advantage to finish in fourth place in only his third appearance in the Ford Fiesta WRC.
The World #rally Championship returns to Europe for its next #event, on the rough and ready gravel stages of #rally Estonia on 15-18 July.
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