Here is a controversial thought (I like those):
I don't feel all that sorry when Malcolm complains that he used to sell 16 WRC cars a year now sold only 2 in last 2 years. When business was good for MSport some 5+ years ago there were 2 manufacturers in WRC with 4-5 top drivers. Rest was often paying drivers with less than top skills. To use names, when MSport had good business positions 6-10 would always be the likes of Matt Wilson, Villagra, Kuipers, Al Quassimi, Prokop etc.all om Fiestas. Now you will often find rally winners on positions 6-10 because of the close competition.
Yes 2017 rules and car running cost are part of the reason they don't sell cars but there are also other reasons:
- R5 which is getting as fast as not so old WRCs, is fun to watch and cheap so that there is good number of them in many championships
- with 4 teams there are more spots for "young" drivers so less incentive to pay to drive
- some managers (Veiby at least) don't do the "paying driver" style that usually Msport benefited a lot from
So what is good for the sport is not necessarily good for Msport.... but if that forces Msport to leave WRC it's a problem again.
Msport is also a victim of own success, when they managed to get both titles with much lower factory support than Hyundai/Toyota/Citroen I can totally see how Ford execs were asking why the need to put in more money if they win anyway.
