At Umeå’s snow rally, challenges abound for many drivers, but Fourmaux has managed to keep his Ford Puma Rally1 car both steady and efficient on the road. The French driver is considered the biggest surprise of the race, as no one expected him to compete for a podium position in Sweden.
Not even M-Sport’s head, Malcolm Wilson, who celebrated his 68th birthday on Saturday, anticipated this.
“Before I came to this rally, I certainly didn’t expect to be challenging for the podium and certainly wasn’t thinking it would be anywhere near getting the fastest time,” Wilson referred to Fourmaux’s excellent performance on the last special stage of the morning loop.
“He’s given me the perfect birthday present, as you can imagine. I just hope he can hang it all together because he can definitely get a podium. It’s just a case of basically continuing doing what he’s been doing in the same manner.”
Wilson immediately congratulated Fourmaux once the fastest time was confirmed.
“He texted me after the stage saying that it was a really good present for him. So it was nice to see his text,” Fourmaux smiled.
Fourmaux is less than one and a half minutes behind the leader, Hyundai’s Esapekka Lappi. However, a challenger named Elfyn Evans is lurking behind, just 16.2 seconds away.
“If he just takes six seconds for the next loop, we are still second tonight, which could be really good for tomorrow also.”
“My main goal is to get the podium anyway. Second or third, it’s already much more than the aim was at the start of the rally,” said Fourmaux.
