Ford ends M-Sport run in WRC?

[I am evil Homer]

Deadline is two weeks away. No announcement, still major sponsor gone, minor sponsor of Jr/B team gone. It's not looking especially positive right now :S

[Barreis]

But nothing official on this sponsorship news.

[Rallyper]

Turn it this way:

the announcement is delayed because the top Ford boys are rethinking what to do. Eg. they will support M-sport for another three year period, and everybody will be happy...

[Viking]

Could it not be the other way around, that Ford has put an offer on the table that MW won't sign??

[Bobcat]

Could it not be the other way around, that Ford has put an offer on the table that MW won't sign??

I think the good question is why MW doesn't want to sign! ??

[Viking]

I think the good question is why MW doesn't want to sign! ??

As a big fan of conspiracy theori it could be something like this:

GQ: ok MW we just want a little more control over where our money is spent, we will do a little bit more of produkt development and engineering inhouse, and hey, we got this driver who will drive one of the cars, dont worry, we will pay him his salary.

MW: Hey you! stay away from my wallet!

[OldF]

As a big fan of conspiracy theori it could be something like this:

GQ: ok MW we just want a little more control over where our money is spent, we will do a little bit more of produkt development and engineering inhouse, and hey, we got this driver who will drive one of the cars, dont worry, we will pay him his salary.

MW: Hey you! stay away from my wallet!

Little similar what I’ve posted earlier (post #649) in this thread.

But what if Ford buys the WRC part from M-Sport and hire all the engineers etc. working with the development and running the WRC cars and continuing working in the same facilities. Everything would be already. Ford would have their own management for the WRC part and Malcom would manage the customer projects. For Malcom it would be to accept this or don’t have anything.

If Ford leave WRC Malcom could still continue with the customer projects but the Fiesta would be outdated in some time because I understand it it’s the manufacturer who homologates the new parts.

[YankWRC]

Most of what's posted as news is quite unreliable or even mere personal opinions. Yet, I wonder if you say Ford wants longer deal and earlier in the thread they turned Abu Dhabi money down because arabs wanted five year deal while Ford only wanted three years?

Another point: Ford's delayed commitment to the series sounds ominous to me. Last minute deals, if such is coming, are nearly always unsatisfactory compromises.

I certainly agree the news may be slightly twisted in terms of the facts (see Ogier/Hirvonen switch). I really think though Ford want a longer term deal, but some of the money backing may not like the direction M-Sport has been going lately. Who knows really.

I do think the longer we push for an announcement, the less likely good news will come out of it. My question is if Ford was not going to stick around, why did they spend sooooo much money on the development for the new Fiesta. There are a ton of Fiesta rally cars out there and while one could make the argument they are doing kinda like Subaru and serving customer teams, I just don't see that kind of money being wasted.

[bluuford]

Well, if they postpone the announcment, then it might be good news as well. M-Sport is running huge armada of rallycars. They have nearly 20 Fiesta WRC-s by the beginning of next season. They have approximately 50 S2000 Fiestas. They have built over 50 Focus WRC-s which are still running in various championships. They are running over 20 Fiestas in WRC Academy. They have built a huge amount of Fiesta R2-s for local championships. They need to take into account a lot of terms and conditions in their agreement. So, it takes time and there are so much small details they need to take into account. You do not need two months extra to just say "no".

[alleskids]

Maybe M-Sport is taking to much work into acccount to competitive run a factory WRC team. Citroen Sport is running only 2 WRCars. Custumers are taking care of by Ph Sport. Citroen Sport has only one purpose: running a factory team in WRC. M-Sport should be have stricter seperations between the factory effort for Ford WRT and custumers in WRC, and skip acedemy and old rallycars department to outside companies. Use budget and facilities from Ford WRT only for Ford WRT.

Maybe Ford also has question marks with Wilson juniors WRC career which is jump started with facilities for the factory Ford WRT and were his budget is coming from al these 5+ years.