Yet, how things have turned out! The Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux has been remarkably consistent throughout the season and has been performing splendidly behind the wheel of a Ford.
In the season-opening Rally Monte Carlo, the Frenchman finished fifth, and in Sweden, he impressively stepped onto the podium for the first time in his career. During the Safari Rally in Kenya, Fourmaux immediately followed up with his second career podium finish, coming in third.
It’s fair to say that Fourmaux has been the most consistent and reliable driver of the season so far.
The 28-year-old Fourmaux, however, doesn’t take all the credit for himself.
“I have to say that it also deserves credit to the team because we had no issue at all, all the weekend, with the car,” Fourmaux mentioned to DirtFish, referring to the Safari Rally.
“They have been pushing quite hard since Christmas to get the car reliable this year and we had three events with no issue,” Fourmaux praised.
“We have changed only one time the bumper, but just the bumper. Of the rest, it was all in one piece every time, not even something loose or whatever, it was just really good,” the French driver added.
Being steady and consistent is one thing, but evolving into a rally winner is the next step for the French driver, and it’s anything but easy.
Moving from the third spot to become a rally winner is still a long way off.
“I was expecting to get a podium in the second half of the season and we have already two on the trot,” Fourmaux stated.
“It’s really good for the championship, but also I think it makes the championship interesting to have the three different cars in the top three,” the Frenchman continued.
In April’s Croatia Rally, Fourmaux might be closer to victory than ever before.
“We’ll have a really good road position for Croatia, so for now it’s a really good start and I’m really pleased for that.”
Last year, Fourmaux drove a Rally2 car in Croatia, but his previous outing in Croatia with a Rally1 car ended in a crash.
“We still have to work on different things on the car. Now we are reliable, we need to push a little bit more for performance. There were some places where we struggled a little bit. We are pushing on it. We are trying to do the same with the Rally1 as we did last year with the Rally2 to make the car faster,” Fourmaux anticipated.
Fourmaux emphasizes that the first victory is not an obsession at this point.
“That’s the plan, isn’t it? I think we show that we are improving every time, every rally. So the pace is coming, we are reliable. So now we need to improve the pace, but step by step.”
“So maybe it’s going to be second and then, after, first. Or maybe it will take more time, I don’t know. We are working on it and maybe one day it will come; maybe sooner,” Fourmaux outlined.
