M-S PORT WANTS BR C RETURN IN ’19
‘Gryazin wins ERC Under 28 championship’ Rally Latvia, p27
Malcolm Wilson wants his M-sport outfit to return to the British Rally Championship next year, after a third successive year of its Ford Fiesta R5 taking the overall BRC title.
Elfyn Evans drove a DMACKshod, Autotek-run car to the title in 2016, before Keith Cronin and most recently Matt Edwards campaigned M-sport-run cars to the ’17 and ’18 BRC titles, respectively.
While Evans remains with the team in the WRC, Cronin moved on to a Hyundai for this season. Edwards could appear in WRC2 or the ERC according to his backer Peter Smith, although he hasn’t ruled out defending the crown in a bid to become the 13th driver to take two or more BRC titles.
“Three years on the trot, that’s impressive!” said Wilson. “Yeah for sure [M-sport wants to return]. I don’t know what Matt’s plans are yet.
“But it’s our home and if there’s one place you want to be strong then it’s in your home events.
“We’ll look to have the strongest presence we can in the BRC.
“It’s great for us commercially that people are winning in our product, that’s what keeps us here fighting at the sport’s highest level.”
Wilson, the 1994 BRC champion alongside Bryan Thomas in a Ford Escort RS Cosworth, believes the series is moving in the right direction with its calendar for next year.
R5 entries have dropped this season, but Wilson believes the inclusion of new events – the series has added West Cork and the Galloway Hills Rally next year – could help to stimulate competition.
“OK, there’s not the numbers there was last year, but looking at what they are proposing for the events next year, I think it’s a good spread of events,” he said.
“Certainly, if you’re a young driver, you’re getting good experience in places like Cork. There’s another good platform for the championship to evolve again next year.”
The series will not return to Wales Rally GB next year unless one of its events are cancelled, as the WRC round is a reserve event.