An attempt by mads Ostberg to set a new jump distance record from rally Sweden’s ‘Colin’s crest’ on Saturday failed when he came up one meter short.
Since 2009 rally organisers have presented the Colin’s Crest Award, named in honour of 1995 World Champion Colin McRae, to the driver who jumps furthest from the huge crest close to the end of the Vargåsen stage.
Driving his 2017-spec Ford Fiesta WRC, Ostberg tried to beat the current record of 45 metres set by fellow Norwegian Eyvind Brynildsen at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta R5 in 2016
On the first pass on Saturday morning (SS11), Ostberg recorded a distance of 42 meters and pledged to push harder on the second attempt. But while his repeat performance on stage 14 bagged him this year’s award for longest jump, at 44 metres – or 12 Fiesta car lengths – it narrowly missed the record.
“I lost the line on the corner before the crest, got on the snow and lost speed,” Ostberg explained.
“I was thinking about he jump all the way through the stage so I was really upset. Of course I wanted the record – it was the most important thing in the world! I couldn’t stand up to the pressure, apparently…”
Brynildsen also tried to beat his own record but without any luck. “I was absolutely flat-out but I couldn’t build up enough speed,” he said.