M-Sport Ford World Rally Teams

[AnttiL]

This year Suninen kind of has that role. So far he has done terrible, but it's only one rally. My issue is that he is not really considered reliable (and neither is Lappi), meaning considered as a proven driver that is regularly fast over the season. Meeke, Paddon, Mikkelsen, Østberg, (and Latvala) fit that much better. But Meeke, Paddon and similar drivers who have won rallies also don't want to pay a lot of money just to "promote" MSport product.

So we get to the dilemma, keep on "risking" with "unreliable"/young drivers or use a bit more money for some regularly fast one? So far MSport almost always goes for the cheaper and risky option. Worked in 2019 (Evans had real pace in Corsica and GB and got "sold" to Toyota, getting money to MSport), did not work at all in 2020 (only a tiny glimpse at Monza).

I'm sure everyone saw that Suninen was about to win the stage before he crashed. That showed that the upgraded Fiesta has potential.

Also, if you say 2020 had only glimpses at Monza, you're forgetting how fast Suninen was in Mexico and Sardegna. Lappi was also setting decent times here and there.

But like you said, it's not their interest to hire someone to drive fast at the moment.

[AMSS]

I'm sure everyone saw that Suninen was about to win the stage before he crashed. That showed that the upgraded Fiesta has potential.

Also, if you say 2020 had only glimpses at Monza, you're forgetting how fast Suninen was in Mexico and Sardegna. Lappi was also setting decent times here and there.

But like you said, it's not their interest to hire someone to drive fast at the moment.

I have missed it so if anyone knows.. were there other updates besides the front aero? Was the engine update already in use in Monte?

[abcrally]

I have missed it so if anyone knows.. were there other updates besides the front aero? Was the engine update already in use in Monte?

No engine update.

[AnttiL]

No engine update.

OK, I thought they already added that. Then it's even more impressive from Suninen. The engine upgrade was already supposed to come for summer 2020, but they decided to use all the remaining old-spec engines for economical reasons.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I thought the engine upgrade was here, especially with Suninen's pace.

2021 is here, what are they waiting for when its just upgrades not a completely new engine ?

[Rallyper]

Just for the record, Bertelli owns his car and has his own team.

But why people are going to Hyundai, I can only think of two things: 1) the performance of Fiesta WRC and 2) the performance of Fiesta Rally2 (although Hyundai R5 hasn't been much better)

3) Money

[mknight]

I'm sure everyone saw that Suninen was about to win the stage before he crashed. That showed that the upgraded Fiesta has potential.

Pretty much impossible to conclude from that (almost) one stage anything about the Fiesta, especially in the conditions that were there. As proven by the crash Suninen was driving on the edge.

Lots of different cars (and drivers) could do a quick stage time or two at the expense of massive risks, ref. Meeke with C3.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Jan 2020

'Malcolm Wilson is hopeful that the upgrade which is slated to arrive at the fourth round will move the team forwards once more.

“This is the biggest change we’ve made to the engine since we started work with this car [in 2017],” Wilson told Motorsport.com. “It’s a big step. As you’d expect, we’ve worked closely with Ford on this, with Ford doing a lot of the modelling work on the engine.

“When it comes, we’ll have more power, torque and driveability – like I said, it will make a big difference. Once we’ve got that in place, I don’t see any reason really why we shouldn’t be challenging [for victory] on all remaining rounds of the series.'

[RS]

Why M-Sport wants to stay in WRC:
- They can get money in from paydrivers
- They want to stay relevant in the sport in order to sell lower class cars.
- Maybe the 2022 cars will be more privateer-friendly?

1) My point was not whether or not they stay but why would they want to spend in order to do so, when they can take those paydrivers..

2) Skoda are not in the top class but sell lots of Rally2 cars

3) Not so sure about that.. won't they be even more complicated and expensive than the current ones?

[mknight]

[

1) My point was not whether or not they stay but why would they want to spend in order to do so, when they can take those paydrivers..

2) Skoda are not in the top class but sell lots of Rally2 cars

Imo Skoda are a perfect example of always hiring at least one top driver in the category to help sell the cars. (Lappi, Rovanpera, Solberg, Mikkelsen...). I don't think any of these paid large sums of money to start with Skoda.
Quite opposite to recent MSport WRC policy.