100kph at 3krpm for 09 WS zetec Fiesta manual

[jeff_o]

hi all, i'll be driving from sydney to melb one of these weekends. yesterday i just did sydney to berry hitting highway speeds of 100-110kph. as I noticed, the engine runs 3000rpm at 100kph (3200rpm at 110kph) at 5th gear. is this normal? are others getting this as well?

If i do the sydney to melb trip, is it ok to run the engine at 3200rpm (110kph) for extended period of time? i find it quite high and noisy. and engine does ping faintly and i'm already running 95octane.

any thoughts?