Date: 17 March 2006

Team Greece Ready for Rally Catalunya

For the first time a Greek crew will participate in a full WRC program with the support of the Greek National Motor Sport Association Lambros Athanassoulas and Nikos Mouzakis will represent Greece in all six rounds of the Fiesta Sporting International Trophy with support from Ford Motor Hellas, Jet Oil, Puma Greece and 4 Wheels magazine.

The Fiesta Sporting Trophy is a new one make competition run within the FIA World Rally Championship, starting with challenging tarmac roads of Rally Catalunya on the 23rd of March. The Championship is based around the Fiesta ST150 Group N cars that have been built to a fixed formula utilising a conversion kit from M-Sport that has been designed to provide all of the safety equipment and performance upgrades to transform a road car enable the car to be competitive and reliable at any event around the world. The Team Greece Fiesta ST will be prepared in the UK by RMS, a team formed at the end of 2003 and headed up by Paul Risbridger - former head of Hyundai's World Rally Team.

In addition to the international programme, Lambros and Nikos will also be competing in selected rounds of the Greek Championship with a second Group N Fiesta ST and a Fiesta S1600. Their Greek campaign started strongly on the first round of the Greek Tarmac Cup when they won their class (N3) and came second in the Group N.

Crew facts:
Lambros Athanassoulas was born on the 10th of November 1976 in Athens. He graduated from the American College of Greece and got a BSc in Mechanical Engineering and a MA in Finance from Westminster University. He started racing in 2001 when he won the 'Be the Champion' contest of the 4Wheels magazine. As a result he drove a 'works' Toyota Yaris A5, getting impressive results on his first season in a rally car, amongst them 3rd place in A5 in Elpa Rally. In 2003 he won the A5 class of the Greek Rally Championship in a Ford Puma Kit Car and the 2nd place in F3. In 2004 he became the official Ford Motor Hellas driver competing in the Greek championship with a Ford Puma S1600 and a Ford Fiesta S1600.

Nikos Mouzakis was born on 24-7-1962. He is one of the most experienced Greek co-drivers. He started racing in 1984 and he has participated in 13 Acropolis Rallies. His best result was 1st place in Group N cars in 1984

Useful links:
www.fiestasportingtrophy.com
www.athanassoulas.gr