M-Sport has confirmed Adrien Fourmaux will not take any further part in this week’s Monte Carlo Rally following his spectacular crash on Friday morning’s opener.
The Frenchman braked too late for a third-stage left-hander. The Ford Puma Rally1 hit a wall on the outside before rolling over a barrier, through the trees and down the bank.
“It was a big crash,” team principal Richard Millener told DirtFish. “We can see from the pictures there is damage to the cage and that car’s not coming back this weekend.
“That was definitely not what we wanted after a year’s preparation – a year in which Adrien has been involved from the very start.
“He doesn’t need my words to tell him how we’re all feeling after this.”
He needs to get it into his head that sometimes we need to see a measured approachRichard Millener
Fourmaux’s speed through the first split on SS3 matched that of his team-mate Sébastien Loeb. That, Millener, feels might have been part of the problem.
“He needs to get it into his head that sometimes we need to see a measured approach and not trying to run at the ultimate speed somewhere where you don’t have huge experience. We need results.
“Adrien was a manufacturer nominated driver and now he’s gone – that’s not what we want. OK, we have two more nominated drivers to score points and, of course, you can only take points from two of the three – but he has compromised our options this morning.”
Asked about the recovery of the car, Millener added: “We’re looking at that. We won’t have it out between the stages. We think there’s an access road down there, so hopefully we won’t need a crane.”
Fourmaux and co-driver Alexandre Coria remain with the car.
