Seven Pumas for Junior World Championship.

Ford Rallye Sport's seven-car assault on the new Junior World Championship for 2002 will be led by young Belgian rally ace Francois Duval. Already a proven winner for Ford, the 21 year-old from Chimay claimed victory on last year's Rally of Kent in Britain at the wheel of a Puma Super 1600.

"I think Duval must start as a favourite for the title," enthuses Philip Dunabin, Engineering Manager for Ford's Super 1600 programme. "He has immense natural talent and is certain to be one of two or three top drivers battling all year for the junior crown. We also have great hopes for newcomer-to-Ford Daniel Carlsson and our British 2001 Formula Rally champion Martin Rowe.

"The opening event of the six-round championship, the Monte Carlo Rally, is such a difficult event that it's wise to compete with familiar cars and we'll be building the Pumas to 2001 specification. This rally is complicated by unpredictable weather and the need to compromise a rally car's suspension set-up to accommodate studded narrow tyres on some stages and dry wide slicks on others. However, we will be introducing several significant upgrades for all the Pumas - the full 2002 specification - in time for the second round in Spain in March."

For 2002, the FIA regulations require that all Super 1600 cars use engines fitted with a single throttle-body and a rev-limiter set at 9,000 rpm. The variations in engine specification permitted during 2001 are no longer allowed, so competition to become the first-ever Junior World Champion is likely to be incredibly close.

Although Boreham, Essex-based Ford Rallye Sport builds all the Puma Super 1600 cars entered in the Junior World Championship, the FIA regulations do not allow manufacturers to run cars on event. Consequently, the Pumas will be serviced and operated by three teams for 2002 - Chris Birkbeck Rallysport in Saltburn, England, Astraracing in Macellai, Italy and Mike Little's Carlisle-based MLP in England. The Birkbeck team looked after Martin Stenshorne's Puma in 2001 as the Norwegian claimed sixth place in the Super 1600 series, the highest-placed Ford driver. MLP are newcomers to this category, but have a long and distinguished history of rally competition.

Ford Puma Super 1600 entries:

Car Number / Driver / Co-driver / Nationality / Team

55 Francois Duval / Jean-Marc Fortin / Belgian / Birkbeck
57 Alejandro Galanti / Xavier Amigo / Paraguayan / Astra
63 Martin Rowe / Chris Wood / British / Astra
67 Daniel Carlsson / Per Karlsson / Swedish / MLP
72 Marc Blazquez / Oriol Julia / Spanish / Astra
76 Alexander Foss / Claire Mole / Norwegian / MLP
78 Roger Feghali / Nicola Arena / Lebanese / Astra

Junior World Rally Championship - 2002:
Monte Carlo / Monaco - 17-20 January [asphalt] Catalunya / Spain - 21-24 March [asphalt] Acropolis / Greece - 13-16 June [gravel] Deutschland / Germany - 22-25 August [asphalt] Sanremo / Italy - 19-22 September [asphalt] Great Britain / Wales - 14-17 November [gravel]