Unlike his Toyota counterpart Jari-Matti Latvala, Millener is not a former top-level driver. The British team boss only suits up once a year to compete in a small rally in his home country.
However, Millener is far from helpless behind the wheel, as he proved last weekend at the Malcolm Wilson Rally – an event named after his boss.
Driving a front-wheel-drive Ford Fiesta R2T, Millener was co-driven by Sebastian Scott, a former M-Sport employee who now works in Hyundai’s PR team, creating WRC content.
Millener’s rally wasn’t without setbacks, as he lost a significant amount of time due to a detached turbo hose. With just three stages to go, he was third in his class, trailing the leader by one minute and 20 seconds.
But Millener refused to give up and went on a full attack mode. First, he cut the gap to 48 seconds, then reduced it to just 23 seconds before the final stage. On the 12-kilometre power stage, Millener set the fastest time by 24 seconds and won his class by a single second.
“IIt was a great event. It always is. The Malcolm Wilson Rally and events of this nature are the backbone of our sport, and getting out to support them is so important. I do one rally a year and absolutely love it,” Millener said via the WRC website.
The rally was held in Cockermouth, the hometown of M-Sport founder and team principal Malcolm Wilson. The area also hosted legendary RAC Rally stages back in the day.
“We did start a little bit slowly on Saturday. The first stage was tricky, slippery, and not an easy one to get your eye in on. Then we had our small issue before heading into Grizedale forest—never an easy place to drive, but absolute classic stages,” Millener recalled.
“We had a couple of moments in there, but came out needing to take 2.5 seconds per kilometre out of the class leader to win on the final stage. We had a good push and managed it.”
Now, Millener puts the driving aside for another year and returns to his full-time job as M-Sport’s team principal. The next WRC round takes place next week in Kenya.
