Millener stresses M-Sport’s commitment amidst Fourmaux rumours

With Fourmaux revealing he has offers on the table from both Hyundai Motorsport and Toyota GAZOO Racing for 2025, Millener has reiterated M-Sport’s determination to field a competitive line-up and continue its legacy as a breeding ground for some of the WRC’s top talents.

Speaking after an exclusive screening of Episode 5 of More than Machine - now available on WRC’s official YouTube channel - Millener reflected on M-Sport’s pivotal role in the careers of drivers like Ott Tänak and Elfyn Evans. He also acknowledged the harsh realities of the team’s position in the championship’s pecking order.

“The episode shows Adrien has a lot of opportunities and offers on the table,” said Millener. “It doesn't say what the decisions are, so the goal is to remain as we are and be as competitive as possible. At the same time, we have to be realistic about what we can achieve with the budgets we have. Sometimes that means you have to let somebody go, and I'm not just talking about the possibility of Adrien here.

“When we lost Sébastien Ogier at the end of 2018, when we lost Ott Tänak, and when we lost Elfyn Evans, they were all difficult times. But you have to just not get too downbeat, upset, or worried about what you have to do at that point. The key is: how do we move forward? What do we do next?

“All those people I just listed, many of them came through M-Sport to begin with. So it's about finding the next ones. That often means M-Sport doesn't necessarily always have [drivers] in the team who are ready to win the championship. When they get to the point where they are able to win, we always struggle against the bigger teams with the bigger budgets. But it does mean that we can find the next group of people to come through."

Looking ahead, Millener is looking forward to the introduction of the next set of technical regulations, scheduled for 2027, where historically M-Sport have always been very strong as new rulesets begin.

“We are always striving to find ways to level our position against the other teams,” he said. “The biggest opportunity for that to happen is the next set of technical regulations, which are very much angled around reducing costs for teams and hopefully levelling the playing field - not only for us but also for new manufacturers to join.

“That’s probably the next goal we’re working toward, but saying that means we need to come up with a group of drivers that will be ready at that point to fight for the world title. Whatever happens next year, I think we’ve already shown through the likes of Grégoire [Munster] and Mārtiņš [Sesks] that it’s possible.

Fourmaux, whose entire 57-event WRC career has been spent behind the wheel of Ford machinery, will hope to end the season on a high at this week’s FORUM8 Rally Japan. With four podium finishes already this year, the 29-year-old will be aiming for another strong performance - whether or not it proves to be his final outing for M-Sport.