The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team (formerly M-Sport World Rally Team, Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team and Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team) is the privately run World Rally Championship team of M-Sport, the firm run by Malcolm Wilson that was previously responsible for the operation of the former Ford World Rally Team.
Wilson at the 2006 Cyprus Rally. Note that the car is named Elaine Joanne, following sponsor Stobart Group's tradition of giving its lorries female names.
The team's best results were Latvala's fourth place at the Wales Rally GB and Katajamäki's fifth at the Rally of Turkey and sixth at the Swedish Rally. With 44 points the team placed fifth overall in the manufacturers' world championship, behind OMV Peugeot Norway and ahead of Red Bull Škoda.
In the 2007 season, Latvala and Wilson were joined by Henning Solberg and the three competed in all 16 rounds. Latvala and Solberg were nominated to collect manufacturers' championship points. Mikkelsen and Gareth Jones also drove for Stobart, in three and five events, respectively.
The team achieved its best points total at the Rally Norway, when Solberg took Stobart's first podium place by finishing third and Latvala finished fifth. Solberg later placed third at the Rally Japan and Latvala in the next rally in Ireland, whilst Wilson finished a season best fourth in Japan. Stobart fought with the Subaru World Rally Team for third place in the manufacturers' championship all year long, but Latvala's technical problems at the season-ending 2007 Wales Rally GB meant that the team had to settle with fourth place and 81 points. The team scored points in every event, and Latvala also led three rallies during the season; Rally d'Italia Sardegna, Rally Finland and Rally Japan.[2]
2008 season
For the 2008 season, Latvala was promoted to the BP Ford World Rally Team and replaced in the Stobart team by Gigi Galli.[3] Wilson and Solberg continued with the team and along with Galli are signed to compete in all 15 events with the Ford Focus RS WRC 07. For some events, Solberg's car was entered by the sister Munchi's Ford World Rally Team. At the season opener, the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally, the team's fastest driver was François Duval, driving a fourth Stobart car, who finished in fourth place.[4] Galli finished third at the Swedish Rally. Duval returned to the team for Rallye Deutschland, and finished third, as the leading Ford driver. On this rally, Galli suffered an injury in a crash that kept him out of action for the rest of the season. Duval replaced him in the team on the next rally in New Zealand. The factory Ford team decided to swap their driver Latvala with Duval for the two tarmac rallies of Catalunya and Corsica, in order to help them to secure the manufacturers' crown. The two drivers returned to their teams for the final two rounds, while Stobart also ran Valentino Rossi on Wales Rally GB.
2009 season
Solberg and Wilson were joined at the team for the start of the 2009 season by Urmo Aava. However, he left the team after two rounds. Solberg scored third-placed finishes in Argentina and Poland. The team were joined in Poland by Krzysztof Hołowczyc, who finished the rally in sixth place. British privateer and founder of team sponsor Vodka KickSteve Perez was entered by the team on Rally GB. The team finished third in the manufacturers' standings behind the Ford and Citroën factory teams. Solberg and Wilson finished sixth and seventh in the drivers' standings respectively.
2010 season
Wilson and Solberg remained with the team again for 2010. For the opening Rally Sweden, Finnish entrepreneur Mattias Therman paid for Stobart to run an additional two cars on the rally for himself and retired former world champion Marcus Grönholm. Gronholm showed great speed but endured many issues during the rally and could only finish in 21st place. During the season several other drivers drove alongside the regular drivers Solberg and Wilson – Per-Gunnar Andersson in Bulgaria, Duval in Germany, Juha Kankkunen in Finland, Ken Block in France and Spain and Liu Chao Dong in Wales. In various races Solberg, Dennis Kuipers and Mads Østberg drove the new Ford Fiesta S2000. Again the team finished third in the manufacturers' standings.
2011 season
Willson and Solberg were retained in 2011 with Mads Østberg and Evgeny Novikov joining the team. The best finishes were two second places in Sweden and Wales which marked the teams best finishes by then. Like in the previous seasons the team finished third behind the works entries of Ford and Citroën.
Stobart's support was withdrawn in 2012 and the team was rebranded as M-Sport Ford World Rally Team. Novikov remained with the team and was joined by Ott Tänak, while Østberg, Willson and Solberg left.
2013 season
With Ford no longer having works entry, the M-Sport World Rally Team acquired sponsorship from Qatar via Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team became the de facto Ford lead team, with returning Mads Østberg and Evgeny Novikov. Meanwhile, a separate formation – Qatar World Rally Team was also supported by M-Sport, with drivers Al-Attiyah and Thierry Neuville. The team also fielded Ford Fiesta R5 for the 2012 WRC Academy champion Elfyn Evans in the WRC-2. Neuville finished the season as runner-up, long way behind Sebastien Ogier, whiler the team finished third in the team standings.
2014 season
The Qatar's sponsorship ended after the end of the 2013 season. Mikko Hirvonen and Elfyn Evans were nominated for points for the team, while a separate entry would be formed for Robert Kubica – RK M-Sport World Rally Team. Both teams have scored points separately from one another. Hirvonen finished his last season in WRC in fourth place with 126 points, exactly the same amount he scored in 2013, while Evans's debut season ended in seventh place. The team again finished third in the team standings, this time beat revived Hyundai WRT.
2015 season
Elfyn Evans remained in the team, while Ott Tänak returned to M-Sport, replacing Hirvonen. The team scored three podium finishes and dropped back to fourth place behind Hyundai.
Ogier won the drivers' championship, claiming two wins and nine podiums. Tänak finished third with two wins and seven podiums. Evans won the Rally GB and finished second at Argentina and Finland, ranking fifth in points. The team won the manufacturers championship, collecting a podium at every round.[7]
2018 season
The team was named "M-Sport Ford World Rally Team" again after 2012, with increased factory support from Ford.[8] Tänak left to Toyota[9] and Suninen received an extended program. Ogier retained the title with four wins and two runner-up finishes, whereas Evans ranked seventh with two podiums. Suninen finished third at Portugal and was 12th in points.
2019 season
Ogier left to join Citroën, while Suninen and Evans is teamed with Pontus Tidemand.
Malcolm Wilson stepped back from the team principal role, which was filled by Rich Millener.[1]
2021 season
M-Sport filled two Ford Fiesta WRC cars for the 2021 season. One of them would be driven by Gus Greensmith with a full-time drive, and the second car would be shared between Teemu Suninen and Adrien Fourmaux. However, Teemu Suninen parted ways with the team before Acropolis Rally Greece. As a consequence, Fourmaux would finish the season in the Fiesta.
In WRC-2, their line-up would be formed by Teemu Suninen, Adrien Forumaux, Martin Prokop and Tom Kristensson (Winner of 2020 Junior WRC).
2022 season
As the hybrid cars arrived to WRC, Ford will increase their factory support to the team. The new car will be a Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, in substitution of the Ford Fiesta WRC.
Sébastien Loeb, the 9-time world champion, has tested the car several times and join the team for a part-time drive.[10][11]
M-Sport started the season with Loeb and co-driver Isabelle Galmiche winning on Monte-Carlo, along with Breen and Nagle finishing in 3rd. The rest of the season was rather poor, with crews making a lot of mistakes and struggling with reliability issues. As a result, the only other podium was Breen and Nagle's 2nd place in Italy. In the overall classification, Breen only managed to finish 7th, even behind part-time contesting Sebastien Ogier. Greensmith and Fourmaux classified 10th and 16th, respectively.
Jari Huttunen and Mikko Lukka made their Rally1 debut in Finland and finished 9th following fuel pressure issues.
M-Sport sold one Puma Rally1 car to Greek privateer Jourdan Serderidis.[12]
2023 season
The team reduced the amount of their cars from 3 to 2, with the third car entered occasionally. 2022 runners-up Ott Tanak and Martin Järveoja returned to the team, while Pierre-Louis Loubet stepped up to drive the second car, teaming up with Thierry Neuville's former co-driver Nicolas Gilsoul. Greek privateer Jourdan Serderidis entered selected events like Monte-Carlo and Mexico.
Last year's factory crew Adrien Fourmaux and Alexandre Coria will represent M-Sport's WRC-2 team, joined by former Hyundai juniors Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka, as well as reigning WRC-3 Junior champion Robert Virves with new co-driver Hugo Magalhaes.
Craig Breen and new co-driver James Fulton left the team after just one year and returned to Hyundai. Gus Greensmith and Jonas Andersson also left the team and switched to WRC-2.
Tanak and Järveoja took M-Sport's first win since 2022 Rallye Monte Carlo on 2023 Rally Sweden.
Jari-Matti Latvala is a Finnish rally driver who has competed in the World Rally Championship (WRC). His co-driver for most of his career was Miikka Anttila, who co-drove for Latvala between the 2003 Rallye Deutschland and 2019 Rally Catalunya. He is well known for his aggressive driving style, which earns him many plaudits, and comparisons to the late Colin McRae. With 18 event victories in the WRC, he is one of the most successful drivers to not have won a championship. Latvala is also the driver with the most World Rally starts in the sport which he achieved in 2019, 17 years after his debut.
Ott Tänak is an Estonian rally driver and the 2019 World Rally Champion. He is currently teamed with Martin Järveoja and is set to compete for Hyundai Motorsport in 2024.
The 2013 World Rally Championship was the 41st season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the highest class of international rallying. The season was run over 13 rallies, starting with the Rallye Monte Carlo on 16 January, and finishing with the Wales Rally of Great Britain on 17 November. Volkswagen entered the series as a constructor with the Polo R WRC, while Ford and Mini ended their factory support for the Fiesta RS WRC and John Cooper Works WRC respectively, though both continued to make their cars available to customer teams.
The 2015 World Rally Championship was the 43rd season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and drivers contest thirteen rallies across four continents, competing for the FIA World Rally Championships for Drivers and Manufacturers. The WRC-2, WRC-3 and Junior WRC championships are run in support of the premier championship.
The 2016 World Rally Championship was the 44th season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and drivers competed in thirteen rounds—starting with the Rallye Monte Carlo in January and finishing with Rally Australia in November—for the World Rally Championships for Drivers and Manufacturers.
The 2017 FIA World Rally Championship was the 45th season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and crews contested in thirteen events—starting in Monte Carlo on 19 January and ending in Australia on 19 November—for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Drivers were free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car and Group R regulations; however, only Manufacturers competing with 2017-specification World Rally Cars were eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The series were supported by the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships and the newly created WRC Trophy at every round, and by the Junior World Rally Championship at selected rounds.
The 2018 FIA World Rally Championship was the 46th season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and crews were competing in thirteen events—starting with the Monte Carlo Rally in January and finishing with Rally Australia in November—for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews were free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car and Group R regulations; however, only Manufacturers competing with 2017-specification World Rally Cars were eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The series were once again supported by the World Rally Championship-2 and World Rally Championship-3 categories at every round and by the Junior World Rally Championship at selected rounds.
The 2018 Rally Argentina was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 26 and 29 April 2018. It marked the thirty-eighth running of Rally Argentina, and was the fifth round of the 2018 World Rally Championship and its support categories, the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships. The event was based in Villa Carlos Paz in Córdoba Province and consisted of eighteen special stages totalling 358.25 km (222.61 mi) competitive kilometres.
The 2018 Rally de Portugal was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 17 and 20 May 2018. It marked the fifty-second running of Rally de Portugal, and was the sixth round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship and its support categories, the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships, and the third round of the Junior WRC championship. The event was based in Matosinhos in Porto and consisted of twenty special stages totalling 358.19 km (222.57 mi) competitive kilometres. The event was also part of the Portuguese national championship and Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica ; their participants did not feature in the overall placings.
The 2018 Rally Finland was a motor racing event for rally cars that held over four days between 26 and 29 July 2018. It marked the sixty-eighth running of Rally Finland, and was the eighth round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship and its support categories, the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships, and the fourth round of the Junior WRC championship. The event was based in Jyväskylä in Central Finland and consisted of twenty-three special stages totalling 317.26 km (197.14 mi) in competitive kilometres.
The 2018 Rally Turkey was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 13 and 16 September 2018. It marked the return and the eleventh running of Rally Turkey, last held in 2010. The event was the tenth round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship and its support series, the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships. It was also the fifth and the last round of the Junior WRC championship. The event was based in Marmaris in Muğla and consists of seventeen special stages totalling 312.44 km (194.14 mi) in competitive kilometres.
The 2018 Wales Rally GB was a motor racing event for rally cars that took place over four days from 4 to 7 October 2018. The event was open to entries competing in World Rally Cars and cars complying with Group R regulations. It marked the seventy-fourth running of Rally Great Britain and was the eleventh round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship, the highest class of competition in international rallying. Sixty crews, including manufacturer teams and privateers, were entered to compete in the World Rally Championship, the FIA World Rally Championship-2 and FIA World Rally Championship-3 support series and the MSA British Rally Championship. The 2018 event was based in Deeside in Flintshire and consisted of twenty-three special stages throughout North and Mid-Wales. The rally covered a total competitive distance of 318.34 km and an additional 1,083.01 km in transport stages.
The 2018 Rally Catalunya was a motor racing event for rally cars that took place between 25 and 28 October. The event was open to entries competing in World Rally Cars and cars complying with Group R regulations. It marked the fifty-fourth running of Rally Catalunya and was the twelfth round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship, the highest class of competition in international rallying. Seventy-six crews, including manufacturer teams and privateers, were entered to compete in the World Rally Championship, the FIA World Rally Championship-2 and FIA World Rally Championship-3 support series and the Spanish national Rally Championship and Peugeot Rally Cup Ibérica championship. The 2018 event was based in Salou in Tarragona and consisted of eighteen special stages. The rally covered a total competitive distance of a 331.58 km and an additional 1,132.79 km in transport stages.
The 2018 Rally Australia was a motor racing event for rally cars that took place between 15 and 18 November. The event was open to entries competing in World Rally Cars and cars complying with Group R regulations. It marked the twenty-seventh running of Rally Australia and was the final round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship and its support series, the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships. The 2018 event was based in Coffs Harbour in New South Wales and consisted of twenty-four special stages. The rally covered a total competitive distance of a 316.30 km and an additional 698.91 km in transport stages.
The 2018 Rallye Deutschland was a motor racing event for rally cars held over four days between 16 and 19 August 2018. It marked the thirty-sixth running of Rallye Deutschland, and was the ninth round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship and its support categories, the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships. The event was based at Sankt Wendel in the countryside surrounding the Bostalsee in Saarland, and consisted of eighteen special stages totalling 325.76 km (202.42 mi) in competitive kilometres.
The 2018 Rally Italia Sardegna was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 7 and 10 June 2018. It marked the fifteenth running of Rally Italia Sardegna, and was the seventh round of the 2018 FIA World Rally Championship and its support categories, the WRC-2 and WRC-3 championships. The event was based in Alghero in Sardinia and consisted of twenty special stages totalling 313.46 km (194.78 mi) in competitive kilometres.
The 2019 FIA World Rally Championship was the forty-seventh season of the World Rally Championship, a rallying championship recognised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) as the highest class of international rallying. Teams and crews competed in fourteen events for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers. Crews were free to compete in cars complying with World Rally Car and Group R regulations; however, only Manufacturers competing with World Rally Cars homologated under regulations introduced in 2017 were eligible to score points in the Manufacturers' championship. The series was once again supported by the World Rally Championship-2 category at every round, which was split into 2 classifications: the World Rally Championship-2 Pro for manufacturer entries and the World Rally Championship-2 for private entries, and by the Junior World Rally Championship at selected events. The World Rally Championship-3 was discontinued in 2018.
The 2019 Rally Mexico was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 7 and 10 March 2019. It marked the sixteenth running of Rally Mexico and was the third round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and the newly-created WRC-2 Pro class. The 2019 event was based in the town of León in Guanajuato and consisted of twenty-one special stages. The rally covered a total competitive distance of 316.51 km (196.67 mi).
The 2019 Wales Rally GB was a motor racing event for rally cars held over four days between 3 and 6 October 2019. It marked the seventy-fifth running of Wales Rally GB and was the twelfth round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and the newly-created WRC-2 Pro class. It was also the final round of the Junior World Rally Championship. The 2019 event was based in Llandudno in Conwy, and was contested over twenty-two special stages with a total a competitive distance of 312.75 km (194.33 mi).
The 2022 FIA World Rally Championship was the 50th season of the World Rally Championship (WRC), an international rallying series organised by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). Teams and crews competed for the World Rally Championships for Drivers, Co-drivers and Manufacturers; each won by Kalle Rovanperä, Jonne Halttunen and Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.
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Cumbria, Great Britain 
Adrien Fourmaux 
Grégoire Munster 
Louis Louka 
