Both of M-Sport Ford’s full-time drivers showed the best of themselves at Acropolis Rally Greece.
Josh McErlean secured his highest World Rally Championship finish, and arguably best performance, while team-mate Jon Armstrong chalked up his first stage win and was fighting for a podium before trouble outside his control struck.
Of the two, McErlean’s felt like the bigger breakthrough – even if fourth place became sixth after a one-minute time penalty applied after the powerstage had concluded.
McErlean himself believes the confidence gained from competing against Kris Meeke at the Donegal International Rally the week prior was a help, but what does the team think?
What was McErlean’s biggest step forward in Greece?
In answering that question, M-Sport team principal Richard Millener highlighted an area he feels all the team’s drivers – including Mãrtiņš Sesks – can improve.
“I don’t think there’s been any actual, like, huge improvement,” Millener told DirtFish.
“I think he operates fully when he’s in a fight and his mindset is on that, then he’s very good. But, you know, when you have a setback and you’re out of that fight, I think all the guys we have find it a little bit difficult to kind of have the never-give-up approach that Thierry or Ogier have.
“They just get more angry when they’ve got a problem and then that gets them back again. And I think that’s a skill you’ve got to kind of learn a little bit. And I think for our guys, it’s more the disappointment of having something happen that puts you back that overtakes the feeling of ‘right, well, it’s happened, get on with it and go’.
“But Jon, to be fair, has done that this weekend. He had the disappointment on Friday after such a high, but then came out of the blocks and showed great speed again.
“So yeah, all these years of learning at the top level, these are all the little things that you have to learn every single time.”
Overall, Acropolis Rally Greece was a positive weekend for M-Sport – even if Millener couldn’t help but think of what could have been.
M-Sport scored its best result of the season in Greece, but Millener knows it could've been more
Armstrong retired from third place on Friday and finished down in 20th, while Sesks finished eighth after leaving Saturday’s midday service 19 minutes late because his Ford Puma Rally1 wouldn’t start.
“When you get home and you think about it and look back, you can say that we did get some positives, but we all really want the overall result as well,” he reflected.
“We’re not being unrealistic by saying we want to win rallies, but ultimately, we were in third, fourth and fifth on Friday [and we finished sixth and eighth]. That’s frustrating because I believe we could be [up there] had we a bit of luck and a few less issues. But we just keep going and keep pushing.
“You can’t change the mentality or the effort that we’re putting in and hopefully it comes together at some point. But yeah, it’s just a shame that we always seem to have these problems after a good, solid day.”
