The British team entered the season with the most inexperienced driver line-up in the top category: Adrien Fourmaux was promoted from WRC2 back to the highest level, and Gregoire Munster faced his first full season in a Rally1 car.
At the start of the season, there was speculation about whether M-Sport could achieve even a single podium finish. But as it turned out, the team has far surpassed those expectations. French driver Fourmaux secured his first career podium in Sweden, where he finished third.
Since then, Fourmaux has made three more podium appearances, finishing third in Kenya, Poland, and Finland. He is currently fifth in the championship standings, just 13 points behind Toyota’s Elfyn Evans.
In addition, Martins Sesks, driving a Ford Puma in Poland and Latvia, has given M-Sport more reasons to celebrate. The Latvian hopeful made a brilliant debut in the WRC’s top category and was on course for a podium finish in his home rally until a technical issue struck on the final stage.
M-Sport team principal Richard Millener has every reason to be pleased.
“I’m really happy with the first half of the season. Adrien’s return to the team and his development in terms of speed, approach and maturity has been one of the talking points of 2024 so far,” Millener told WRC.com.
“But there’s been so much more. It’s been great to work with Greg and to see his confidence and speed improving, and then there was Martins in Poland and Latvia – what a fantastic couple of events.”
Millener also shares his appreciation for the entire team, which has worked tirelessly throughout the season. M-Sport operates with a significantly smaller budget than its competitors Toyota and Hyundai, which are full-fledged factory teams. Despite this, M-Sport has provided its drivers with a highly competitive Ford Puma Rally1 car.
“Once again I feel we’re punching above our weight and really demonstrating to the world what this team and the Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid is capable of. We know we have a car capable of winning and we have crews and a team with the ability and desire to match that,” Millener emphasised.
There are still four rounds remaining in the season, and Millener hopes the team can continue to deliver strong performances in the upcoming rallies.
“We’re going to build on this in the second half of the year, we’ve got more to come across the board. The run-in to the summer break was fairly frantic with three rallies in such a short space of time, we want everybody to get some rest now and come back absolutely flying high in Greece,” Millener concluded.
