''This is the opportunity I've been working towards''Barry Clark, the 2007 Fiesta SportingTrophy International (FSTi) series winner, was awarded with his prize last week from M-Sport, the championship's creators. The Scotsman was presented with a fully-funded drive on one
round of the FIA World Rally Championship and, as a result, has managed to acquire additional funding to compete on two further rounds.
The deal, which has been put together through the support of Scottish commercial car dealer Clark Commercials, will be for three WRC rounds in the latest evolution of the Ford Focus RS WRC over the second half of 2008 with the car to be run by the M-Sport team.
Cark will be taking on are Rally of Turkey in June, followed by Rallye de France – Tour de Corse in October. The third event will be Wales Rally GB in December, the Scotsman's 'home' event and one he has the most experience of in the WRC.
The 2008 FSTi championship is already shaping up to be an action-packed year, and registration for the highly competitive one-make series is currently open.
FSTi continues as one of the world's foremost motorsport championships to offer a high quality level playing field for competitors as a stepping stone to break through to the top level of the sport. This year, ten countries – from Belgium to New Zealand – will host the one-make national FST championships.
In conjunction with this announcement is the confirmation of the official 2008 FSTi calendar which will include the following events: Rally d'Italia Sardegna, Rally of Turkey, Rally Finland, Rallye Deutschland, Rally Espana de Catalunya and Wales Rally GB.
Barry Clark:
"To have such a fantastic opportunity this year is a dream come true for me. M-Sport have offered me an amazing prize for winning the Fiesta championship last year and, as a result of this, I have managed to gain further sponsorship to compete on three great events this year in what I believe to be the best car in the WRC. This is the opportunity I've been working towards obtaining in order to kick-start my professional rally career and I know the next few months will need to be spent working extremely hard on all areas of my rallying."
Source: M-Sport
