Honestly speaking, expectations for the team this year are minimal overall, with Rally1 debutant Josh McErlean and Gregoire Munster, who last season mostly secured lower positions and retirements, behind the wheel.
Looking beyond the results, M-Sport Ford found a small glimmer of hope for the year in Monte. On the other hand, results are not as crucial for a private team, though they certainly add motivation. Munster’s first career stage win and his overall decent pace were a pleasant surprise.
However, Munster’s rally did not reach the finish, as the Luxembourger went off the road on Sunday morning. Any hopes for a top result were already dashed on Friday evening when he was forced to retire due to a technical issue on the final liaison stage.
“Obviously it is a huge shame that Greg and Louis (Louka) didn’t make it to the end of the event, having the opening road position the last two days has been an advantage in some ways, but today showed it can also be a disadvantage – being the first crew to find the tricky black ice sections,” Millener told.
“But still, they can go away from here very happy – proving that they have what it takes to mix with the top crews, and they claimed their first ever stage win, what a great job.”
Munster himself was also satisfied with his season opener, even though he ended up with zero points.
“I think there are quite a lot of positives to mention, I think generally we had some good pace and really improved day after day. We posted a fourth-fastest time on Thursday, two second-fastest on Friday and then our first stage win in the morning on Saturday. So we’ve been consistently improving, and we’ve learned a lot as well,” Munster said.
“Thanks to the team for working late on Friday night to fix the car so we could go again on Saturday. It gave us a chance to grab some more experience which was super important, especially because we’re driving on the new tyres.”
McErlean’s pace was not particularly impressive. However, the Irishman made it to the finish and secured seventh place in the overall standings.
“For Josh and Eoin (Treacy) , this weekend was a pure baptism of fire, it was a proper Monte and I think the amount of information and work that goes into being involved with a Manufacturer Team was a big eye opener for them both,” Millener summarized.
“Regardless of this, they did everything we asked of them – get the car home in one piece. They got more confident and quicker as the weekend went on and they leave here with Championship points in the bag – where other far more experienced crews leave empty handed. “