M-Sport Ford World Rally Teams

[Fast Eddie WRC]

It's strange that Breen hasnt ever been strongly linked to M-Sport despite his very early days with their Fiesta ST & S2000.

I spoke to him at Rally GB in 2015 and said I hope you get a drive next year and hopefully in a Ford and he looked totally blank like it was something offensive. I wonder did he have a falling out with them ?

[er88]

Breen makes sense for Msport. He deserves a full season, in fact two full years before we can properly judge where his peak actually is. He's also a driver who doesn't have too many major shunts, which is a good reflection on his mentality because he has effectively been driving for his career every time he does a rally in the i20.

If I was Malcolm, I would give Breen and Fourmaux 2yr contracts. Give them the security and the confidence needed (look what happened to Evans after Toyota secured his future), and it also protects Msport from losing either for free at the end of next year if they have a very impressive year.

Fourmaux brings backing too and Breen wouldn't be too expensive (especially compared to the salary one of the big 4 wouldve wanted), so it could hopefully mean they might be able to run a proper 3rd driver ( rather than just Greensmith fully paying for a 3rd car, instead of a 4th car).

[AnttiL]

It's strange that Breen hasnt ever been strongly linked to M-Sport despite his very early days with their Fiesta ST & S2000.

I spoke to him at Rally GB in 2015 and said I hope you get a drive next year and hopefully in a Ford and he looked totally blank like it was something offensive. I wonder did he have a falling out with them ?

I think Fiesta was lagging behind in development by that time, similarly to current one now.

Difficult to say if Rallye-Magazin has just read discussions from this forum or David Evans's speculations or if they actually know something?

Having Breen as main driver and then shuffling Suninen, Fourmaux and Greensmith in the two remaining cars? Or Greensmith driving "fourth car" with own livery? Or Suninen dropping out to WRC2? What does Mikkelsen do?

[seb_sh]

So: Mikkelsen Breen Formaux full time; Greensmith payed 4th car (does he still have budget behind him?); Suninen to WRC2 ? That would not look bad at all.

[skarderud]

Apparently, Breen is close to deal with M-sport 2022.

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[mknight]

I find it very strange anyone would sign Breen before he gets a decent result on anything else than a fast loose surface rally. So earliest after Ypres.
But stranger things have happened.

[dupanton]

I think Breen has showed most of all drivers this season that would deserve a full time WRC drive.
I would choose him or Lappi (giving that the big 4 are not available)

[mknight]

I think Breen has showed most of all drivers this season that would deserve a full time WRC drive.
I would choose him or Lappi (giving that the big 4 are not available)

I wonder what makes you think that (deserving full time WRC drive).

In Citroen in the past he had great results on some fast loose surface rallies, meh everywhere else. Especially on tarmac (when C3 was good on it 2017-2018), it was kind of strange.
In i20 he has good results on fast loose surface rallies, and bad result on the only different round he has driven so far (Croatia). Latest he confirmed this in Estonia by doing well on fast gravel rally where he did well last year.

So I don't get the implication "good on fast loose surface rallies" => should be good elsewhere.

Comparatively few people will automatically expect Sordo to be great in Finland/Estonia, based on him being good in Sardinia or Portugal. The difference is that in Sordo's case he has driven those other rallies lots of times, while Breen has driven other types of rallies only few times. Therefore Ypres should be very important for him, specially since he has driven a test rally in Belgia in the WRC car last year and also did drive there earlier in R5 Polo.

----------------

Anyway it seems this "Breen to MSport" is based on people asking Malcolm if he is of interest and Malcolm saying he is one of the drivers on a list they consider. That is perfectly normal at this stage and correct line of thinking by MSport. Actually signing Breen at this very point would have been something else and a bit weird, which is why I reacted to it.

If he does very well in Ypres (faster than any of the other 5 Toyota/Hyundai), MSport might considered signing him "before" Hyundai to "steal" him. Interestingly Solbergs and maybe even Huttunens performance will also play a role.
If Solberg does very well Hyundai will be less interested in Breen (so MSport doesn't need to hurry to sign him).
If Solberg does bad and Breen bad there is no hurry for anyone.

MSport said at one point they would want to get a driver early to drive the car and adapt as soon as possible. But the only driver really available for that is Lappi, and it seems he is signed at Toyota (most notably cause he didn't come to Estonia). Suninen is off course also available, but MSport interest in him has faded. Breen is earliest available after Finland (so mid October), maybe later depending on how his contract with Hyundai goes. After Safari and UK+Chile cancellations Mikkelsen isn't available before end of October or later either.

As a side note there are news saying MSport wants to run 2 cars next year........so in the end it might end with Fourmaux+Greensmith only.

[AnttiL]

I agree that Breen has been a bit disappointing on other WRC drives than in Finland, Sweden and Estonia. And in three last years, he hasn't had many starts elsewhere. Wales and Croatia were not really impressive.

If you look at Breen's stage win list, his only stage wins in Germany are from exceptionally fast stages and same thing for one Australia and one Portugal stage win. He only has two stage wins from technical gravel stages, one in Portugal and one in Turkey. His best result in a technical gravel rally is 5th in Portugal 2017 and best tarmac result 5th (many rallies)

[dupanton]

I don't say Breen would be a championship contender.
I see him as "best of the rest", capable of winning rallies and finishing high(ish) in other rounds.
If you combine him with Fourmaux who will be getting quicker on Tarmac, his prefered surface, I think that is the best 2 car line-up in middle long term they can go for.