What M-Sport needs to do to extract more from its car

Toyota leads it by 141 points. Hyundai is another 54 ahead. But M-Sport Ford won’t pour millions into new parts for its Puma Rally1 in the pursuit of more horsepower for next week’s Rally Finland.

Instead, team principal Richard Millener believes it just needs a scrap to be involved in. That, he says, is the best way to extract the car’s ultimate potential.

No team made a stronger start to the World Rally Championship’s Rally1 hybrid era than M-Sport, as it won the Monte Carlo Rally with Sébastien Loeb and also had Craig Breen on the podium in third.

But since then, although Breen returned to the podium in Sardinia, its season has somewhat unraveled as Kalle Rovanperä and the Toyota juggernaut has taken over the championship.

“There’s always little things you can do but I honestly think we’re at the point… each car will be very slightly different; some will have better advantages at some rallies and some others,” Millener told DirtFish.

“We need to have a look and make sure we have everything as reliable as we possibly can on the cars because the Toyota is just an incredibly reliable car.”

Does that mean M-Sport beginning to trade performance for reliability?

“It’s very hard to do once you’ve homologated everything,” Millener pointed out.

“We’ve already designed it to what we feel is close to the limit. There are bits we can modify slightly but I honestly think, just get the bit between your teeth and go for it, and if you get into that fight for a podium, then you’re going to be able to find it.

“I’m convinced you’ll be able to find a lot of pace through being in a fight with someone and having a real drive to take a position. You can find more there than you can spending millions and millions on finding a few horsepower.

“Just look at Elfyn [Evans] and Kalle. Same car, same team, and look at the differences.”

Although it hasn’t necessarily secured the results to reflect it, M-Sport has been competitive on all surfaces of the WRC so far, including the fast gravel of Estonia, but has been left “exposed” whenever Loeb is absent and Breen has run into trouble.

Its other points-scoring drivers, Adrien Fourmaux and Gus Greensmith, have both won stages in the WRC but never recorded a podium finish before.

“It’s a difficult position we find ourselves in when Craig is our main driver and really probably the only one who can consistently push for the podium positions this year,” Millener said.

“So when we have an issue this year or bad luck or whatever, we’re exposed that we’ve got junior drivers who are still developing.

“But they will come into their own hopefully in three or four years’ time because it takes so long, especially with the level of cars we’re at now. But right at this moment, when we lose Craig, it makes things more difficult for us.”

Millener has encouraged Breen to “throw caution to the wind” on next week’s Rally Finland and for the rest of the season, but that policy won’t apply to the rest of the driver lineup.

“For them, it’s important that we try to keep them progressing through the season. You don’t want to take any risks that knock you back. Going to rallies and not finishing them, we’ve talked about it many times, it’s such a big disadvantage for them.

“When we feel it’s ready, we’ll tell them to go and push on a bit.”