M-Sport Ford World Rally Teams

[Eli]

Strange how happy Loeb was with the Puma in Monte 2022 straight out of the box. And he made literally no set-up changes at all during the rally...

Loeb wouldn’t have been as happy had he’d suffer the same power steering issue that plagued Ott, and after all, Loeb is the goat.

[EstWRC]

Strange how happy Loeb was with the Puma in Monte 2022 straight out of the box. And he made literally no set-up changes at all during the rally...

You really think it’s exactly the same car was it was a year ago?

[spyros]

And after one year Toyota and Huyndai made mega progress

[cali]

Strange how happy Loeb was with the Puma in Monte 2022 straight out of the box. And he made literally no set-up changes at all during the rally...

Different drivers and different styles, Loeb was there to have fun etc.

This mid corner understeer was present throughout 2022 tarmac rallies. You have to be almost blind not to see it. Also I pointed this out in Monte test vids that the front lacks grip.

Also teams have had time to develop their cars and both TGR and HMSG have improved tremendeously. Especially the Yaris looks like it's glued to the surface and it's incredible to watch how confident it makes his drivers. This new engine upgrade seems to be also very nice as it pulls very well throughout the rev band. Though I must say that the i20 looks very clumsy.

But I'm hopeful that M-Sport will sort these issues out. That was the whole point why Ott moved to M-Sport that the team would build the car for his needs. This wasn't gonna happen in Hyundai

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[Fast Eddie WRC]

You really think it’s exactly the same car was it was a year ago?

So they have actually made it worse with all the understeer now ?

Breen was also very happy with the Puma in Monte '22 and Fourmaux did great times in Croatia.

Seems until we see Loeb in the car again we won't know how good it is.

[AnttiL]

And after one year Toyota and Huyndai made mega progress

And we can compare the stage times to see this. It was like 2 s/km faster on the shakedown already.

[AnttiL]

Seems until we see Loeb in the car again we won't know how good it is.

This claim is just ridiculous.

However, to me it seems M-Sport lacks more in reliability than performance. Most of the rally Ott couldn't drive at 100% because he had some issues.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

This claim is just ridiculous.

However, to me it seems M-Sport lacks more in reliability than performance. Most of the rally Ott couldn't drive at 100% because he had some issues.

Why, when Loeb can be the benchmark after his events last year ?

I don't think Tanak could push here anyway due to unfamiliarity with the car and testing in such different conditions.

[doubled1978]

Different drivers and different styles, Loeb was there to have fun etc.

This mid corner understeer was present throughout 2022 tarmac rallies. You have to be almost blind not to see it. Also I pointed this out in Monte test vids that the front lacks grip.

Also teams have had time to develop their cars and both TGR and HMSG have improved tremendeously. Especially the Yaris looks like it's glued to the surface and it's incredible to watch how confident it makes his drivers. This new engine upgrade seems to be also very nice as it pulls very well throughout the rev band. Though I must say that the i20 looks very clumsy.

But I'm hopeful that M-Sport will sort these issues out. That was the whole point why Ott moved to M-Sport that the team would build the car for his needs. This wasn't gonna happen in Hyundai

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I agree with all of this.
The Hyundai is pretty much the opposite to the Ford, it’s very floaty at the rear, which is probably why it was so good in Japan on all those low speed, tight turns. Also Neuville is particularly good at those type of stages, gravel and tarmac.

The Toyota really does look a good piece of kit now, very impressive.

You’re right, I’m sure MSport will do everything they can to develop the car for Ott, for the sake of the competition, lets hope it’s enough to get him in the game.

[doubled1978]

So they have actually made it worse with all the understeer now ?

Breen was also very happy with the Puma in Monte '22 and Fourmaux did great times in Croatia.

Seems until we see Loeb in the car again we won't know how good it is.

It’s all relative to the pace they are going. All the cars have improved since last year, but at the pace of this year, the understeer was clearly a lot more pronounced.
And don’t forget, Ogier only didn’t win last year because of the puncture. Over the course of the rally, he was actually over half a minute faster than Loeb if you take that out.

The Puma isn’t a bad car, but in dry tarmac trim, it clearly isn’t at the level of the Toyota. Ott has said himself, he can go fast, but not for a whole loop as the tyres (fronts) won’t last.