I am unsure of what the rules are for cross country rallies, from a rallying point of view that's a gigantic cut

Few years ago, Al Attiyah complained of excessive cutting by Al Qassimi in a MERC rally, and got him either disqualified or penalized, and in the end Al Qassimi lost the championship... in the same rally, Al Attiyah was filmed cutting massively as well...
It's a fair opinion. It would be hard to return to Rally2 after tasting Rally1 and the very top level. But while his pace has been better than the other M-Sport drivers, they're not the best...
M-Sport Ford World Rally Teams