At last weekend’s Rally Sweden, Fourmaux secured his career’s first podium finish by coming in third. This remarkable achievement lifted the Frenchman to third in the WRC standings, behind Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville and Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
View the current WRC standings here.
M-Sport’s team principal, Richard Millener, was not in Umeå for the weekend as he is awaiting the birth of his second child. However, the team boss closely followed Fourmaux’s performance from his home in England.
“It was a real shame I could not be there for his podium after all these years, but we had a chat about it and we will make sure I will be there for the first win,” Millener shared on the WRC’s website.
“I think back to when we first put Adrien into a Rally1 car (in 2021) – we knew the potential. We knew at the time that he probably wasn’t ready for the step-up but we thought we would give him that opportunity.”
The 2022 season was a complete disaster for Fourmaux. The Frenchman faced retirements in most of the WRC events and ultimately did not participate in the season’s final race.
“Obviously, we then had a tough season (in 2022) and we put him back in Rally2. It gave him some more fight and determination and as a person, he has massively improved mentally. I think that showed at the weekend,” said Millener.
Significantly, Fourmaux has earned more than twice the points in this season’s two events than he did throughout the entire 2022 season in the Ford Puma Rally1 car. Behind him in the championship standings is Hyundai driver Ott Tänak, whom he replaced at M-Sport this year.
“If he can keep his head in the same position, we have a really good chance to keep pushing and fighting in the championship,” Millener stated.
