M-Sport Ford World Rally Teams

[WRCStan]

When Neuville was driving there... Or Tänak (his last year), or Ogier.

For next year, maybe M-Sport needs Neuville or Tänak to become champion, and Neuville or Tänak may need M-Sport to become champion...

Tanak '17 yes, still had VW covering Ogier and a title sponsor for Neuville's 'year'. Also the strongest opposition were fresh faced in those years. I stand by my point.

[steve.mandzij]

"Best result to date" which it was. Spain was later and without rain. Meeke on Corsica had half rally to go and was just starting to lose time.

Why do you always have to "adjust" the reality a bit?

Like saying Suninen beat Mikkelsen in Rally2? Like when? Here by leading with 15s before getting a puncture on friday stages that Mikkelsen never drove before?

Talk about stretching.

Remember that Mikkelsen would have won in Germany 2017 if he hadn't made mistakes like going off into a field while in the lead.

His biggest problem was always staying in the lead once he got it and not making mistakes under pressure. He was rarely able to.

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[Gordini]

They could give Mikkelson a real test. both gravel and tarmac. Collect data and compare if he has what is needed, and better than what is there now.

[Danny0405]

It was pretty clear from the beginning that, except a Loeb miracle again, the series Croatia-Portugal-Sardinia would be difficult. Probably even Safari but as it is a more special rallye, they may have some luck there as Katsuta last year.
Breen is not good on tarmac (Belgium is really special context) and has not driven in slow gravel at world level for a while. And as Evans and Tanak had a bad start of season, he had a bad road position again. And Breen is not a championship-material driver for me, the hype he benefits this winter was completely insane; it’s not a criticism of either M-Sport who took the most safe choice after the Big4 rejected their offer (Lappi and Mikkelsen were the other logical choices but more of a gamble) or the driver that obtained the best opportunity for him, it’s just an opinion.
Greensmith is Greensmith and his road positions were not that good.
Loubet needs to adapt the car. And Fourmaux needs to build back confidence which takes at least 3 rallies.
And Loeb is 48 yo: as God he is, he cannot compete as a regular dominant winner right now even if he is competitive on some rounds (the 2018-2020 stints show that).

Sardinia will be really complicated again I think, I don’t see better than a top 5; Sordo will be less rusty, Lappi will have a good road position and Evans and Tanak not that bad compared with Breen.
And as Loeb won’t drive that much after Safari (at most 2 rallies from what I understand), they need to try something. There are some talks about Huttunen in Finland but it’s not really different than Loubet or Fourmaux in terms of profile.
It would also allow to understand if the car is that good (remind that Loeb achieves to win with the Citroen in 2018 and he is too much of a special guy to make a clear evaluation); from that perspective, giving 2 or 3 drives to Mikkelsen would help (Suninen is too much linked with Hyundai I think to be free + last year context).

[AnttiL]

You can have daydreams about Tänak or Neuville at M-Sport but their quality can be awesome as well. From Portugal, remember Loeb’s technical retirement, Breen’s hybrid issue on one stage, Loubet’s wiper fault or the brake problems on Sunday…

[Eli]

Did M-Sport conduct any pre-event testing before Sardegna?

[Danny0405]

Did M-Sport conduct any pre-event testing before Sardegna?

From what I’ve seen from a Fourmaux interview in a French website, no (last question of the link)
https://www.rallye-sport.fr/a-fourma...-a-ma-vitesse/
He says that, as M-Sport has fired half of its team since Covid, they were not able to conduct PET in Sardinia; they will base on what happened in Portugal + last year rally

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Gus Greensmith stated there was no PET for Sardinia but it's not a problem after learning a lot from the recent Rally Portugal.

[mknight]

Sounds totally like a team that does everything to win (Ford CEO words after visiting them recently).

[Danny0405]

I wouldn’t blame M-Sport because I think the situation is really not simple for them financially speaking.
They had to develop a new Rally1 which is probably more expensive (or at least same cost) than the former one with no real possibility to sell or even rent in a massive way.
In Rally2, they are absolutely nowhere in terms of performance and even Skoda’s logistics issues didn’t convince customers to buy the Fiesta; they are completely reduced to the British market since at least 1 year. And with reduced team, I don’t see them in the game again in the next 2 years.

In Rally4, it’s a little better but they clearly have a huge competition from Renault and Peugeot now who seem to sell more cars now (even if M-Sport is not awful at that).
I think that, without Rally3 where they are alone for now and which is working better than expected, it will would be really difficult for M-Sport financially.
And the forecasts are not really positive: with the costs increasing (oil, logistics issues, ...), we clearly see that a lot of customers are more cautious with their spendings.

Without manufacturer support, I’m not sure they can do way better than this. It’s why, on topics about Neuville and Tanak, I’m not sure than suffering a pay cut to go to M-Sport is a good plan (but it’s completely different topic).