Fiesta development continues at M-Sport Ford

Launched in 2020 as the successor to the Fiesta R5, M-Sport is running a pair of its Rally2 cars for Adrien Fourmaux and Grégoire Munster in the FIA World Rally Championship’s premier support category this year.

Munster was on track to take victory with the car in Kenya last month but retired with a mechanical issue while Fourmaux, who did not compete in Kenya, crashed from the lead in the Wolf Power Stage at the previous round in Italy.

Team principal Richard Millener has hinted that a number of technical upgrades are on the horizon, saying: “The Rally2, I think, is still in a pretty good place. We’re hoping for some reasonably big upgrades later in the year but I think, actually, the performance of the car is pretty good. When you have less people competing in it, it’s of course always tricky to prove your point.

“Adrien’s obviously in a very good groove at the minute and what we’re seeing is good and hopefully that continues. It was real a shame for Grégoire [in Kenya] after the gains and improvements we saw from him, but the Safari is always tough on these WRC2 cars and it’s always a battle of attrition."

The British team is not fielding any Fiesta Rally2s in next week’s Rally Estonia (20 - 23 July) although the blue oval will still be represented in the category with privateer entries from Robert Virves and Nasser Khalifa Al-Attiyah.