M-Sport Ford World Rally Teams

[Rallyper]

If he has to choose I think he will decide for developing R5 Evo 3 like tommeke_B says.

[Andre Oliveira]

New R5. Not evo.

[dimviii]

It's not about being able to afford it. It's the question if the investment is still reasonable regarding the return. With the previous generation of WRC-cars, the works cars were some sort of advertising for the sales and running of the private WRC-cars. And there were quite a few of them. Nowadays being there with a WRC team doesn't lead to selling or renting out any other WRC-cars. Maybe it's better for his business to focus on R5 and R2.

Anyway with current WRC I think history will repeat itself, costs will get out of hand and manufacturers will eventually pull out. It's not a real question if it will happen, but when...

now you are talking.
The problem isnt that he cant afford,but he dont want to entry wrc because the return isnt same like previous years.
Of course Malcolm forgot to tell us that incomes from 250 cars r5, maybe are x 10 x 20 x30 ? times bigger than customers wrc entries from previous years.


ps at his position i would do/talk the same.

[RS]

Anyway with current WRC I think history will repeat itself, costs will get out of hand and manufacturers will eventually pull out. It's not a real question if it will happen, but when...

If the figures being discussed somewhere on this forum are to be believed (circa 70m euro for Hyundai and Toyota) then I think it's going that way. WRC is pretty strong now compared to how it was just a few years ago but I'm not sure it can be worth THAT much to a manufacturer. Here in the UK, publicity surrounding WRC is still pretty minimal, I don't know how it is in other countries?

And there are not that many "real" sponsors involved with the teams. Toyota has an impressive roster, other than that it's just Red Bull and a few automotive industry related suppliers.

[deephouse]

Even when he had Ogier on board probably Redbull didn't pay for the whole operation. Especially in 2017.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

The cost of the '17 WRCar's is a big issue. Even Citroen cant afford to run 3 cars without another sponsor.

Here's Ford Europe Gerrard Quinn on the M-Sport Ford situation:
"Cost was always going to be an issue with the modern WRC cars - the spectacle is great but when the cost is €300K to €400K more than the outgoing WRC car then it will become difficult to sustain particularly when cars are exclusive to WRC only."

[Got Mail]

you really believe that this business cant afford wrc entry?

100% Yes.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

There are no top drivers in msprt , no sponsor will just throw money at them , they want something im return

Sorry but it works the other way round - the Team needs the money first before they can afford sign a driver.

Wilson had to put up his own money to sign Ogier, Red Bull came in after.

[Rally Power]

Having 4 manus is important for the series; no idea if they’re doing it, but it’d be in the WRC promoter interest to help Wilson finding new sponsors or even asking their parent company (Red Bull) to keep providing MSport some support (sponsoring 2 teams wouldn’t be a problem, they do the same in F1).

This said and considering Ford rally heritage, besides MSport current success, it’s a shame not seeing Ford properly investing in the WRC.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Gerrard Quinn on doubts about Ford funding:
"It's already done, contracts in place, funding ($$'s), resources, tech support etc. It is likely to be other contributing partners whose negotiations are being finalised. I am sure that our partners MSport will reveal this in good time. In the meantime our focus is 2019 testing..."