The Spanish driver announced as early as February that he would have access to a Ford Puma Rally1 car for the WRC round in the Canary Islands at the end of April.
Read more: Spanish driver gets a dream opportunity – secures Rally1 car for WRC event
M-Sport Ford team principal Richard Millener soon tempered Suarez’s claims. According to Millener, there was no guarantee that Suarez would get a Rally1 car on loan, as the team had only a limited number of vehicles available.
Now, Suarez has confirmed that his dream of competing in his home WRC rally with a Rally1 car will not come true.
“I had been working towards this dream for a year. When rumours started circulating that the Canary Islands would host a WRC round, I approached Malcolm Wilson, the head of M-Sport, with the aim of driving one of their cars.”
“In the end, we couldn’t reach an agreement, and honestly, the best thing for me is to focus on the Spanish Superchampionship,” Suarez stated, according to the Spanish newspaper Diario AS.
Suarez, 34, has been competing in national rally series in Spain in recent years. In the early 2010s, he attempted to break into the WRC through the junior categories, but he never managed to secure a place at the top level of the sport.
In Gran Canaria, Suarez would have had the chance to drive on familiar asphalt stages, as he has competed in Rally Islas Canarias eight times. Last year, he finished fifth in the event, which was part of both the European Rally Championship and the Spanish Superchampionship.
The first-ever Canary Islands WRC rally is scheduled to take place on 24–27 April.
