M-Sport World Rally Team

M-Sport Ford WRT
Full name	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team
Base	Cumbria,Great Britain
Team principal(s)	Richard Millener
Drivers	Adrien Fourmaux; Grégoire Munster
Co-drivers	Alexandre Coria; Louis Louka
Chassis	Ford Puma Rally1
Tyres	Pirelli
World Rally Championshiphistory
Debut	2006 Monte Carlo Rally
Manufacturers' Championships	1 (2017)
Drivers' Championships	2 (2017,2018)
Rally wins	12

TheM-Sport Ford World Rally Team(formerly "M-Sport World Rally Team", "Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team", and "Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team" ) is the privately runWorld Rally Championshipteam ofM-Sport,the firm run byMalcolm Wilsonthat was previously responsible for the operation of the formerFord World Rally Team.

History

2006 season

Wilson at the 2006Cyprus Rally.Note that the car is namedElaine Joanne,following sponsor Stobart Group's tradition of giving its lorries female names.

Stobart debuted at the2006 seasonopenerMonte Carlo Rallywith driversMatthew Wilsonand Pieter Tsjoen. Wilson went on to compete all the 16 rounds for the team. Other Stobart entrants during the season wereLuís Pérez Compancin eight rallies,Kosti Katajamäkiin five,Jari-Matti Latvalain four,Juan Pablo Raiesat theCyprus RallyandAndreas Mikkelsenat theWales Rally GB.

The team's best results were Latvala's fourth place at the Wales Rally GB and Katajamäki's fifth at theRally of Turkeyand sixth at theSwedish Rally.With 44 points the team placed fifth overall in the manufacturers' world championship, behind OMV Peugeot Norway and ahead of Red Bull Škoda.

2007 season

Latvala at the2007 Rally GB.

In the2007 season,Latvala and Wilson were joined byHenning Solbergand the three competed in all 16 rounds. Latvala and Solberg were nominated to collect manufacturers' championship points. Mikkelsen andGareth Jonesalso drove for Stobart, in three and five events, respectively.

The team achieved its best points total at theRally Norway,when Solberg took Stobart's first podium place by finishing third and Latvala finished fifth. Solberg later placed third at theRally Japanand Latvala in the next rally inIreland,whilst Wilson finished a season best fourth in Japan. Stobart fought with theSubaru World Rally Teamfor third place in the manufacturers' championship all year long, but Latvala's technical problems at the season-ending2007 Wales Rally GBmeant that the team had to settle for fourth place and 81 points. The team scored points in every event, and Latvala also led three rallies during the season;Rally d'Italia Sardegna,Rally Finlandand Rally Japan.^[2]

2008 season

For the2008 season,Latvala was promoted to theBP Ford World Rally Teamand replaced in the Stobart team byGigi Galli.^[3]Wilson and Solberg continued with the team and along with Galli are signed to compete in all 15 events with theFord Focus RS WRC 07.For some events, Solberg's car was entered by the sisterMunchi's Ford World Rally Team.At the season opener, the2008 Monte Carlo Rally,the team's fastest driver wasFrançois Duval,driving a fourth Stobart car, who finished in fourth place.^[4]Galli finished third at theSwedish Rally.Duval returned to the team forRallye Deutschland,and finished third, as the leading Ford driver. On this rally, Galli suffered an injury in a crash that kept him out of action for the rest of the season. Duval replaced him in the team on the next rally inNew Zealand.The factory Ford team decided to swap their driver Latvala with Duval for the two tarmac rallies ofCatalunyaandCorsica,in order to help them to secure the manufacturers' crown. The two drivers returned to their teams for the final two rounds, while Stobart also ranValentino RossionWales Rally GB.

2009 season

Solberg and Wilson were joined at the team for the start of the 2009 season byUrmo Aava.However, he left the team after two rounds. Solberg scored third-placed finishes inArgentinaandPoland.The team were joined in Poland byKrzysztof Hołowczyc,who finished the rally in sixth place. British privateer and founder of team sponsorVodka Kick Steve Perezwas entered by the team onRally GB.The team finished third in the manufacturers' standings behind the Ford and Citroën factory teams. Solberg and Wilson finished sixth and seventh in the drivers' standings respectively.

2010 season

Wilson and Solberg remained with the team again for 2010. For the openingRally Sweden,Finnish entrepreneurMattias Thermanpaid for Stobart to run an additional two cars on the rally for himself and retired former world championMarcus Grönholm.Gronholm showed great speed but endured many issues during the rally and could only finish in 21st place. During the season several other drivers drove alongside the regular drivers Solberg and Wilson –Per-Gunnar AnderssoninBulgaria,Duval inGermany,Juha KankkuneninFinland,Ken BlockinFranceandSpainandLiu Chao DonginWales.In various races Solberg,Dennis KuipersandMads Østbergdrove the newFord Fiesta S2000.Again the team finished third in the manufacturers' standings.

2011 season

Willson and Solberg were retained in 2011 withMads ØstbergandEvgeny Novikovjoining the team. The best finishes were two second places inSwedenandWaleswhich marked the teams best finishes by then. Like in the previous seasons the team finished third behind the works entries of Ford and Citroën.

2012 season

Mads Østbergat the2013 Rallye Deutschland.

Stobart's support was withdrawn in 2012 and the team was rebranded as M-Sport Ford World Rally Team. Novikov remained with the team and was joined byOtt Tänak,while Østberg, Willson and Solberg left.

2013 season

WithFordno longer havingworks entry,the M-Sport World Rally Team acquired sponsorship fromQatarviaNasser Al-Attiyah.The Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team became the de facto Ford lead team, with returning Mads Østberg and Evgeny Novikov. Meanwhile, a separate formation –Qatar World Rally Teamwas also supported by M-Sport, with drivers Al-Attiyah andThierry Neuville.The team also fieldedFord Fiesta R5for the 2012 WRC Academy championElfyn Evansin theWRC-2.Neuville finished the season as runner-up, long way behindSebastien Ogier,whiler the team finished third in the team standings.

2014 season

The Qatar's sponsorship ended after the end of the 2013 season.Mikko HirvonenandElfyn Evanswere nominated for points for the team, while a separate entry would be formed forRobert Kubica–RK M-Sport World Rally Team.Both teams have scored points separately from one another. Hirvonen finished his last season in WRC in fourth place with 126 points, exactly the same amount he scored in 2013, while Evans's debut season ended in seventh place. The team again finished third in the team standings, but this time, ahead of the revivedHyundai team.

2015 season

Elfyn Evans remained in the team, whileOtt Tänakreturned to M-Sport, replacing Hirvonen. The team scored three podium finishes and dropped back to fourth place behind Hyundai.

2016 season

Tänak went toDMACK WRTand Evans competed in WRC2. Team ofMads ØstbergandEric Camilliended the season in fourth place again.

2017 season

For2017,M-Sport hiredSébastien Ogieras lead driver.^[5]Ott Tänakreturned to the team after contesting the 2016 season withDMACK World Rally Team.Elfyn Evansreturned to the premier class after contesting the 2016 season in the WRC-2 category.^[6]

Ogier won the drivers' championship, claiming two wins and nine podiums. Tänak finished third with two wins and seven podiums. Evans won the Rally GB and finished second at Argentina and Finland, ranking fifth in points. The team won the manufacturers championship, collecting a podium at every round.^[7]

2018 season

The team was named "M-Sport Ford World Rally Team" again after 2012, with increased factory support from Ford.^[8]Tänak left to Toyota^[9]and Suninen received an extended program. Ogier retained the title with four wins and two runner-up finishes, whereas Evans ranked seventh with two podiums. Suninen finished third at Portugal and was 12th in points.

2019 season

Ogier left to join Citroën, while Suninen and Evans is teamed withPontus Tidemand.

Malcolm Wilson stepped back from the team principal role, which was filled byRich Millener.^[1]

2021 season

M-Sport filled two Ford Fiesta WRC cars for the 2021 season. One of them would be driven by Gus Greensmith with a full-time drive, and the second car would be shared between Teemu Suninen and Adrien Fourmaux. However, Teemu Suninen parted ways with the team before Acropolis Rally Greece. As a consequence, Fourmaux would finish the season in the Fiesta.

In WRC-2, their line-up would be formed by Teemu Suninen, Adrien Forumaux, Martin Prokop and Tom Kristensson (Winner of 2020 Junior WRC).

2022 season

As the hybrid cars arrived to WRC, Ford will increase their factory support to the team. The new car will be a Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, in substitution of the Ford Fiesta WRC.

Craig BreenandPaul Naglejoined the team in a multi-year deal.Adrien FourmauxandAlexandre Coria,along withGus GreensmithandJonas Anderssonwere also announced as factory drivers.

Former WRC-2 championsPierre-Louis LoubetandVincent Landaiscontested selected events in a fourth car.Jari HuttunenandMikko Lukkarepresented the team in WRC-2.

Sébastien Loeb,the 9-time world champion, has tested the car several times and join the team for a part-time drive.^[10]^[11]

M-Sport started the season with Loeb and co-driver Isabelle Galmiche winning on Monte-Carlo, along with Breen and Nagle finishing in 3rd. The rest of the season was rather poor, with crews making a lot of mistakes and struggling with reliability issues. As a result, the only other podium was Breen and Nagle's 2nd place in Italy. In the overall classification, Breen only managed to finish 7th, even behind part-time contesting Sebastien Ogier. Greensmith and Fourmaux classified 10th and 16th, respectively.

Jari Huttunen and Mikko Lukka made their Rally1 debut in Finland and finished 9th following fuel pressure issues.

M-Sport sold one Puma Rally1 car to Greek privateer Jourdan Serderidis.^[12]

2023 season

The team reduced the amount of their cars from 3 to 2, with the third car entered occasionally. 2022 runners-upOtt TanakandMartin Järveojareturned to the team, whilePierre-Louis Loubetstepped up to drive the second car, teaming up with Thierry Neuville's former co-driverNicolas Gilsoul.Greek privateerJourdan Serderidisentered selected events like Monte-Carlo and Mexico.

Last year's factory crewAdrien FourmauxandAlexandre Coriawill represent M-Sport's WRC-2 team, joined by former Hyundai juniorsGrégoire Munsterand Louis Louka, as well as reigning WRC-3 Junior championRobert Virveswith new co-driver Hugo Magalhaes.

Craig Breen and new co-driver James Fulton left the team after just one year and returned to Hyundai. Gus Greensmith and Jonas Andersson also left the team and switched to WRC-2.

Tanak and Järveoja took M-Sport's first win since 2022 Rallye Monte Carlo on2023 Rally Sweden.