M-Sport team principal Rich Millener has suggested Adrien Fourmaux’s crash on Monte Lerno, the final stage of Rally Italy’s Saturday itinerary, does not carry the same weight as his shunts earlier in the year.
Fourmaux suffered his third accident-induced retirement of the current World Rally Championship campaign in Sardinia, when he ran wide on a fast left corner and clipped a line of small trees, dragging him off the road and leaving him stranded.
Monte Carlo Rally ended early for Fourmaux when he slid wide on an icy stretch of asphalt, running up a hillside and launching his Ford Puma over a barrier into a ravine on the other side.
That impact was so sizeable it left M-Sport unable to repair the Puma, leaving him unable to return under super rally rules the next day.
He crashed again in Croatia, aquaplaning on a puddle only two corners into stage three and careering through a hedge into a farmer’s garden.
While the farmer was happy to accept Fourmaux’s apology for destroying his foliage, M-Sport was less impressed, with a very real threat of being benched for Portugal looming in the air afterwards.
But though Fourmaux lost fifth place with an off, Millener was less critical of the Rally Jeunes winner’s off in Italy than the others.
“It’s not maybe in terms of some of the other issues and accidents he’s had earlier in the year, I wouldn’t compare this one and say it’s the same,” Millener told DirtFish.
“It’s just frustrating more than anything else because he’s on course as a team for a fantastic result and we’ve now lost one of those cars in those top positions. But we’re not the only team to face some difficulties this weekend.”
Initial in-car comments from Fourmaux’s navigator Alexandre Coria in the moments immediately after the crash suggested a lack of concentration may have contributed to the off.
But Millener was not ready to jump to conclusions for why Fourmaux had made his costly mistake, instead awaiting a full debrief once his car is back in the service park.
“Now, there was some translation that people were talking about in the car that he lost concentration, so [we] just have to understand what happened there,” added Millener.
“I don’t know if there was a mistake from one of them through heat during the day; maybe it’s just got to him on this final stage or something. But it’s difficult because he had a clear plan of what we wanted and it’s not been achieved.”
While team-mates Craig Breen and Pierre-Louis Loubet have been fighting for podium positions for most of the rally, Fourmaux had spent much of the event alone in the leaderboard, without a direct competitor to fight.
That all changed late on Saturday when championship leader Kalle Rovanperä began to make inroads following a challenging start to the rally as first on the road.
On the stage immediately before Monte Lerno, Rovanperä had cut the deficit to under 10 seconds for the first time, with Fourmaux hinting at the stage end that he was prepare to respond.
But until we really understand why they've made the mistake, I wouldn't really want to cast judgement.Rich Millener
Millener suggested that upping his pace to try and fend the Toyota driver off might have played a part, given he’d spent most of the rally not driving at what Fourmaux felt was his ultimate pace.
“This is one of the things Adrien discussed yesterday,” said Millener.
“It’s hard, when you know you’ve got a lot more there and then maybe he’s wanted to show that he’s felt comfortable – and we said to him, if you feel comfortable and you can go a little bit more, then do it, but you know, still with the mindset of finishing the day.
“But until we really understand why they’ve made the mistake, I wouldn’t really want to cast judgement.”
Fourmaux will not return under super rally tomorrow, with M-Sport using tomorrow to start the re-prep work on Fourmaux’s car ahead of Safari instead. M-Sport pointed out the close proximity of the Nairobi event and the necessity to have the car ready for airfreight soon after the finish of Rally Italy.
