Eyvind Brynildsen will be handed the controls of a new-generation World Rally Car for the first time when he contests Rally Sweden next week in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC run by Adapta Motorsport.A frontrunner in the Super 2000 World Rally Championship for the past two seasons, Brynildsen will link up with new team-mate and neighbour Mads Ostberg in the Norwegian squad.
Brynildsen and Ostberg both live in the village of Valler, a short distance from Spyderberg, the home of fellow WRC aces Petter and Henning Solberg who will also be in action on Rally Sweden.
“To compete in a World Rally Car is the dream of every rally driver, and what can be better than to do that in cooperation with the neighbour,” said the 24-year-old Brynildsen. “I will prepare well for the task, and at the starting line of the shakedown I will have done 250 kilometres of testing. I will do my very best to have a good result in the rally. I hope that this is the start of something that can be [extended] to more WRC rallies later on. We are working hard to get a budget.”
Morten Ostberg, the team principal in Adapta Motorsport, which has close links with the M-Sport organisation in the UK, said: "Eyvind is a driver with international potential. He had a lot of unlucky situations last season. We will do everything we can to ensure that the luck turns now. We have top mechanics in the preparation of the car, we work closely with M-Sport on engineering and spare parts, and Mads will share all his set-ups and experiences. I hope and believe this is the start of a long collaboration.”
Rally Sweden takes place from 9-12 February.
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