What a difference 12 months makes. This time last year, Adrien Fourmaux had just finished Rally Croatia fourth in WRC2, and was five rallies into an enforced sabbatical from the top class of the FIA World Rally Championship.
Fast-forward 12 months and, after his year in a Rally2 Fiesta (and with a British Rally Championship title added to his CV) the Frenchman looks an altogether different driver. The mistakes of 2022 have been replaced by a consistent, level-headed approach that rewarded Fourmaux with back-to-back podiums in Sweden and Kenya – and soundly justified M-Sport’s decision to hold him back for a year.
In Croatia, Fourmaux demonstrated speed as well as consistency, with a maiden powerstage win his reward for another solid performance. Yes, there was an altercation with an anti-cut device that derailed his attempt to take maximum Super Sunday points, but the incident didn’t deter him from his objective to show his rivals what he is capable of.
“The plan was to push in every stage, and especially [the] power stage, and in the power stage, we gave everything. We gave everything. The adrenaline at the end was just like… I couldn’t stay still, I’m still moving! I was giving everything, delivering everything in the stage.”
Having broken a steering arm in the morning, Fourmaux's never-give-up approach paid off in the powerstage
However, while it was another job well done in that respect, the fierce competition on the roads around Zagreb shows that there is still work to be done if the M-Sport driver is to hit that level consistently. And it is work he is more than willing to do, as the experience left him wanting a regular taste of life at the top of the timesheets.
“That’s a really, really great feeling (winning the powerstage), and I want more. But to push like that in every stage of the rally, it will be another step to do for us. But just the feeling, it’s so nice. When I saw the time comparing to the Rally2, I already knew that we had made a really good time. Because when I saw the gap, I was like, okay, we are on a big, big pace. And so, then I was like, yeah, we have been pushing, so maybe they will push also really hard, and maybe get some tenths or one second or whatever, but not a huge amount. So then at the end, we were really faster.”
Sunday was also a lesson in resilience. After the damage sustained on SS18, it would have been all too easy to settle and nurse the Puma to the end of the rally but, as Sébastien Ogier has demonstrated so consistently over the years (and did again last weekend), that’s not the way to maximize your result.
He's shown his true pace, but more consistent pushing requires an extra step, says Fourmaux
Fourmaux’s compatriot was snapping at the heels of the flying Elfyn Evans and Thierry Neuville all weekend and, when they made their mistakes, he was ready to pounce. Such an approach is the mark of a truly great driver, so Fourmaux’s never-give-up attitude should be commended.
He too could have benefited in a similar fashion to Ogier and could have been looking at his third straight podium. While it wasn’t to be on this occasion, he was well aware of how different things might have been if Ogier, Evans or Neuville had not been so fortunate as to escape damage on their own brushes with the scenery.
“Yeah, but I think some of the drivers have been really lucky also this weekend. That’s the only mistake we have done, and it was really a shame with big consequences, when I’ve seen a lot of drivers in a ditch, et cetera, and they are still on the road. But I’m still lucky, because it was just a steering arm, and we have been able to carry on.”
Next up is Rally Portugal, where Fourmaux feels he could be even stronger, as he will be back to his favoured surface and riding the wave of confidence from the last three rallies, “It’s perfect for the confidence. It gives you the confidence that, OK, you are able to do that on tarmac. Now we need to do that on gravel. But I think I told you before the rally that I feel much more comfortable on gravel than tarmac, so it’s already a good start.”
