M-SPORTAIMS FOR DRIVER LINE-UP STABILITY
Wilson says that Evans and Suninen are high on the 2020 list
Malcolm Wilson says M-sport would be “crazy” not to re-sign Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen for 2020, after the investment the team has put into them.
Evans has spent the last two World Rally Championship rallies on the sidelines after a back injury sustained on the non-championship Rally Estonia.
“Elfyn and Teemu will form part of the team, for sure,” Wilson told Motorsport News. “We’ve made big investments in both of them so it would be crazy to let someone else get that benefit. If Ott [Tanak – one of the team’s targets] is not here the intention would be that they both form part of the team moving forward.”
Evans was fourth in the championship before his injury, and still held that spot before he was passed on Rally Germany by Toyota’s Kris Meeke and Hyundai’s Andreas Mikkelsen.
When asked about his future and if he was in talks for next year, Evans told
MN: “Of course, it’s natural. Nothing is sorted at the minute. It’s an open book.”
Evans will miss a third WRC round in succession when he sits out next week’s Rally Turkey, following his Rally Estonia back injury sustained earlier in the summer (see separate story).
Asked if getting back out for the remaining rallies was important for his future, Evans added: “You never know when it comes to these sort of things. Obviously you like to hope people haven’t forgotten about you, and the performances that we put in at the start of the year.
“There’s no time like the present.
People do forget pretty naturally when things go on and different people take the limelight at different stages, so who knows. When you haven’t got a piece of paper with your name on it I guess it is important to be out there. But I guess the only thing we can do is focus on doing everything we can to be back rather than dwell on the fact that we aren’t.”
Suninen was disappointing on his home rally in Finland, where the team has consistently run in the top three in the past, but turned his form around in Germany where he drew praise for his performance.
Considered most at home on gravel, Suninen was consistently in the top six on times on Saturday and Sunday of Rally Germany, having retired from day one with a hydraulic issue.
“I believe he’s got the speed. It’s the process we have to go through. It’s quite painful at times, but that’s rallying,” said Wilson when asked by MN to evaluate Suninen’s performance this year.
“I always say it’s five years [to be a top driver]. It’s maybe reduced to four now, but at the end of the day you need that experience [of events].”
When asked if the process was similar with Tanak, Wilson added: “Yeah, Ott was obviously a long process, I hope with Teemu the process can be reduced, but at the end of the day he has the speed.”