WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
M-Sport’s Fiestas have been flying the flag for the Blue Oval in the WRC, and are showing they are a force to be reckoned with
The circuit-based championships may have only recently started up again for the 2021 season, but the World Rally Championship has been under way since the start of the year, and the M-Sport Fiestas have been competing well in the opening four rounds, getting stronger and recording better results with each event.
It all started back in January at Rallye Monte Carlo. M-Sport is fielding a team of young and upcoming drivers this season in Gus Greensmith, Teemu Suninen and Adrien Fourmaux. Suninen and Fourmaux are alternating between the top-spec WRC and WRC2 cars; the first two rounds at Monte Carlo and the Arctic Rally Finland saw Suninen in the WRC and Fourmaux in the WRC2 car.
Suninen got off to a great start and showed enough pace to be mixing it at the top end of the results table until his untimely exit. Meanwhile, Greensmith was coming into the event off a confidence-building test. Despite never finding his rhythm, the young Brit kept a cool head and finished eighth.
Fourmaux showcased the power and performance of the Fiesta in the WRC2 category, finishing second only to experienced rally-winner Andrea Mikkelsen.
By February the WRC headed to Finland for the only full-snow event of the year. Much of the wintry conditions weren’t ideally suited to the Fiesta, so this was more about securing maximum points and playing the championship long-game than fighting for podiums. Saying that, Suninen and Greensmith finished in eighth and ninth positions, showing the pace of the Fiesta is still there given the right circumstances.
In the WRC2, Fourmaux took on what was only the third winter rally of his career. A ninth-place finish and picking up bags of experience was no bad result.
By the time the WRC got to Croatia in April, it was Fourmaux’s chance in the top-spec WRC car, switching places with Suninen who competed in the WRC2 category. And boy did Fourmaux make his impressions, driving to fifth place overall on his full WRC debut.
The young Frenchman was challenging the established elite, posting nine top-five stage times – including two second-fastest times – and showing all the hallmarks of a future champion. Despite a mistake on cold tyres costing over a minute beached off the road, Fourmaux remained calm and fought back to an impressive and deserved fifth-place finish.
Greensmith also had a very positive weekend in Croatia, delivering his best result of the season to that point in seventh. Meanwhile, Suninen bought the Fiesta Rally2 home in second place in the WRC2.
Building with each round, the M-Sport crew headed to the most recent event at Rally De Portugal full of confidence and optimism – which was paid back when Greensmith and Fourmaux finished in fifth and sixth respectively. Both youngsters delivered excellent performances, and the result could have easily been even better if both WRC cars hadn’t suffered tyre damage; Greensmith lost 50 seconds on leg one, and Fourmaux endured tyre damage on Friday’s penultimate stage.
Suninen once again shone in the WRC2 category, finishing second for the second event in succession. He will be back in the top-spec WRC Fiesta for the next round at Sardinia on 3-6 June, with Fourmaux taking the WRC2 seat for that event.