M-Sport Ford World Rally Teams

[TypeR]

I hope Ogier will rejoin M-Sport for the following season. It would be great, if he would do a partial season with them.

If he continues like that, I'm quite sure he will do full season next year.. in Toyota

[rp]

I hope Ogier will rejoin M-Sport for the following season. It would be great, if he would do a partial season with them.

It would be great, but unfortunately will not happen, because he is dreaming to drive Le Mans and it´s also possible with Toyota...

[doubled1978]

A bit of a clickbait title. In the article he actually says:



Anyway there are two things that might work against him

1. As mentioned in the article he drove for MSport last year so they know what to expect.
He is not driving with them in any form this year and is instead paying WRC2 drives at a different team. Hard to say if that means anything.

2. He does not have many good results on tarmac.
He did finish 3rd in Germany 2018, but that was after Latvala and Sordo retired on last day. He does have some good stage times, but doesn't seem to be able to connect them.

So if he wants to increase his chances he definitely should drive some tarmac round (Ypres or Spain).

=============================

Dirtfish speculates that MSport could stick with
Suninen, Fourmaux and Greensmith next year.....

sorry but a lineup of Lappi, Mikkelsen, Fourmaux and Greensmith paying own starts sounds so much better. I'd guess MSport could afford both Lappi and Mikkelsen for the price of Tanak or Ogier.

I agree, if they could put that line up together, you would expect if the car is competitive that they would get good results.
Is Mikkelsen still Red Bull? With Fourmaux it could be a good angle..

[mknight]

Mikkelsen has Red Bull as a personal sponsor (recently got new helmet as well), no idea how big.

I am also not so sure how clean cut it is between Lappi and Suninen. At Monte and Sweden last year Lappi was much faster, but then starting from Mexico Sunninen was faster in all rallies until Monza (Mexico, Estonia, Turkey and Sardinia), typically with a bit better start position. In Monza Suninen got technical issues immediatelly so it wasn't possible to compare.
Now in Portugal they had same speed on Friday, then on Saturday Lappi pulled away, but they weren't in same car.

But for Suninen at this point, I would say it's a disadvantage that all he ever drove in WRC and partly also in R5 is a Fiesta.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

If they are able to pay for a driver then Lappi is probably the one to go for in 2022, given those who are realistically available. He also has good experience in many teams to help develop the new car.

The top guys are either in contract or retiring and others like Breen very closely associated another team.

Suninen and Mikkelsen can bring some budget, plus Greensmith maybe can do another year of full payment.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Autosport:
Matton has reiterated that Ford is putting more focus on the WRC and is heavily involved in the development of M-Sport’s 2022 Rally1 car.

“From what I know Ford is deeply involved in the development of the new car and we have a Ford representative in the different working groups, so it shows they are really interested by this new car and the next generation of cars,”

Matton replied, when quizzed if the new rules could entice Ford to become a full WRC manufacturer again.

“They will be very close to M-Sport in the future.”

[Fast Eddie WRC]

1999 Focus WRC compared to 2021 Fiesta Rally2:

https://youtu.be/H3H0KKsdKGU

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Wide-ranging Rich Millener interview, incl. Safari, Rally 1 car, Covid, costs & Estonia.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4EX...FQ&dl_branch=1

[Andre Oliveira]

Autosport:
Matton has reiterated that Ford is putting more focus on the WRC and is heavily involved in the development of M-Sport’s 2022 Rally1 car.

“From what I know Ford is deeply involved in the development of the new car and we have a Ford representative in the different working groups, so it shows they are really interested by this new car and the next generation of cars,”

Matton replied, when quizzed if the new rules could entice Ford to become a full WRC manufacturer again.

“They will be very close to M-Sport in the future.”

Without proper drivers, full back means nothing.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Without proper drivers, full back means nothing.

Which 'proper drivers' are available ? Toyota and Hyundai have them all under contract.