M-Sport Ford World Rally Teams

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Originally Posted by AnttiL

I'm sure everyone saw that Suninen was about to win the stage before he crashed. That showed that the upgraded Fiesta has potential.

Also, if you say 2020 had only glimpses at Monza, you're forgetting how fast Suninen was in Mexico and Sardegna. Lappi was also setting decent times here and there.

But like you said, it's not their interest to hire someone to drive fast at the moment.

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I have missed it so if anyone knows.. were there other updates besides the front aero? Was the engine update already in use in Monte?

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Originally Posted by AMSS

I have missed it so if anyone knows.. were there other updates besides the front aero? Was the engine update already in use in Monte?

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No engine update.

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Originally Posted by abcrally

No engine update.

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OK, I thought they already added that. Then it's even more impressive from Suninen. The engine upgrade was already supposed to come for summer 2020, but they decided to use all the remaining old-spec engines for economical reasons.

I thought the engine upgrade was here, especially with Suninen's pace.

2021 is here, what are they waiting for when its just upgrades not a completely new engine ?

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Originally Posted by AnttiL

Just for the record, Bertelli owns his car and has his own team.

But why people are going to Hyundai, I can only think of two things: 1) the performance of Fiesta WRC and 2) the performance of Fiesta Rally2 (although Hyundai R5 hasn't been much better)

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3) Money

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Originally Posted by AnttiL

I'm sure everyone saw that Suninen was about to win the stage before he crashed. That showed that the upgraded Fiesta has potential.

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Pretty much impossible to conclude from that (almost) one stage anything about the Fiesta, especially in the conditions that were there. As proven by the crash Suninen was driving on the edge.

Lots of different cars (and drivers) could do a quick stage time or two at the expense of massive risks, ref. Meeke with C3.

Jan 2020

'Malcolm Wilson is hopeful that the upgrade which is slated to arrive at the fourth round will move the team forwards once more.

“This is the biggest change we’ve made to the engine since we started work with this car [in 2017],” Wilson told Motorsport.com. “It’s a big step. As you’d expect, we’ve worked closely with Ford on this, with Ford doing a lot of the modelling work on the engine.

“When it comes, we’ll have more power, torque and driveability – like I said, it will make a big difference. Once we’ve got that in place, I don’t see any reason really why we shouldn’t be challenging [for victory] on all remaining rounds of the series.'

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Originally Posted by AnttiL

Why M-Sport wants to stay in WRC:
- They can get money in from paydrivers
- They want to stay relevant in the sport in order to sell lower class cars.
- Maybe the 2022 cars will be more privateer-friendly?

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1) My point was not whether or not they stay but why would they want to spend in order to do so, when they can take those paydrivers..

2) Skoda are not in the top class but sell lots of Rally2 cars

3) Not so sure about that.. won't they be even more complicated and expensive than the current ones?

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Originally Posted by RS

1) My point was not whether or not they stay but why would they want to spend in order to do so, when they can take those paydrivers..

2) Skoda are not in the top class but sell lots of Rally2 cars

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Imo Skoda are a perfect example of always hiring at least one top driver in the category to help sell the cars. (Lappi, Rovanpera, Solberg, Mikkelsen...). I don't think any of these paid large sums of money to start with Skoda.
Quite opposite to recent MSport WRC policy.

WRC1 seems more of a vanity project now for M-Sport. They cant compete with the two factory teams without Ford as a full manufacturer team, or afford a top driver in this economic climate.

They could concentrate on WRC2/3 and promote thelr Fiesta Rally2 that way with no detriment.

Credit them for at least giving us a 3rd WRC car to watch but dont expect them to win much.