Sébastien Loeb’s Rallye Monte-Carlo victory was a dream come true for the British squad’s Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid.
Sadly for Malcolm Wilson’s team, that was the sole 2022 success. That’s not to say there wasn’t plenty to cheer for the Puma. M-Sport’s team leader Craig Breen, drafted in from Hyundai Motorsport in September 2021, was second at Rally Italia Sardegna.
Breen’s planned two-year stint with M-Sport was halved at the end of the season, however - the Irishman preferring to head back to the land of blue and orange to drive an i20 N Rally1 next season.
Pierre-Louis Loubet and Gus Greensmith both scored their first fastest times in the world championship and the former led a WRC round in Greece. Coming out of the Bauxites on an Acropolis Friday evening, Loubet could barely contain himself.
Having led for two stages, he’d forfeited the top spot, but he would head to service just 1.7 seconds behind the hero of his youth, countryman and rallying royalty Sébastien Loeb.
While his hopes of a win might have faded, a puncture on Saturday ruined his chances of a maiden WRC podium.
Greensmith continued to impress mightily, with the Brit running an early third in the championship after a strong start to the season.
Adrien Fourmaux endured a troubled year, crashing first up in Monte Carlo and then suffering more accidents later in the season. The Frenchman was benched for three of the season’s final four rounds.
And - if the start of the year was exciting for Wilson’s M-Sport troops, the end was perhaps even more so with the news that Ott Tänak returns to Dovenby Hall for next year.
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