Green smith to join forces withm- sport forwrc attack on rally portugal
Britain’s Gus Greensmith will make his debut in a Ford Fiesta WRC at this year’s Rally Portugal.
In addition to partnering Elfyn Evans and Teemu Suninen in the factory team in Matosinhos, he will compete on 10 world championship rounds, spearheading M-sport’s WRC 2 Pro effort.
The 22-year-old tested a Fiesta WRC for the first time in November and admitted driving the car Sebastien Ogier used to win last year’s world title came as a wake-up call.
Greensmith said: “I’d never tested a World Rally Car, no 2016 car, nothing. So, to get into this car for the first time really was a wakeup call. Put it this way… I don’t have many 50s [metres] in my notes now – they’ve become ‘intos’.
“I’ll get a day of testing before Portugal and if that goes well, it’s possible I could do another one or two rallies in a World Rally Car. Driving that car’s fantastic, but I also have a job to do in WRC 2 Pro for M-sport. I’ve got to be aiming at podiums early in the year and then pushing for wins towards the end.”
The Manchester driver was on the WRC 2 podium four times with M-sport last season – but he has his sights set on finishing higher than fourth in the overall WRC 2 standings this time around.
“I want to be fighting for the championship,” he said. “It’s a big year, but it’s what I’ve worked for. At the start of 2017, I said I wanted to be in a full factory backed drive in two or three years and I’ve achieved that.” ● MN understands Pontus Tidemand has secured funding for a more extensive WRC programme than just the first two rounds in M-sport’s third factory Fiesta WRC. The 28-year-old Swede could contest as many as half of this year’s events with the team. Italian driver Lorenzo Bertelli is also expected to return to the WRC with a 2017-spec Fiesta WRC in Sweden next month.