Adrien Fourmaux is an M-Sport Ford driver. At least for one more rally. Beyond Rally Japan? That’s speculation. The wider world seems sure he’s Hyundai-bound. Others reckon nothing’s signed yet.
M-Sport team principal Richard Millener is tired of the talk. But what if? What if Fourmaux does depart? What would that mean for his team? Where would the priority lie? He reads – on a daily basis – stories linking the likes of Oliver Solberg to a Ford Puma seat, but the reality sits closer to home.
Millener told DirtFish: “The most obvious objective would be to have Grégoire [Munster] remain. The goal would be to have him with us again. Personally, I don’t think he’s done badly.
“We’ve got to be realistic about what we’re expecting – we’ve always said it’s a multi-year program to get someone to the [top] level and Grég’s only had 12 months of it. When you look at the events he’s gone back to in the Puma, in Chile and CER, we saw some strong stage times.
Munster should be afforded more time to develop, believes Millener
“I think it would be silly and pretty disrespectful of us just to say no based on no real fact. So, yeah, continuing with Grég is a goal for us and, obviously, we are in conversation with the people that you’re talking about us talking to!”
On the subject of a potential Solberg return to M-Sport’s frontline – 13 years on from Oliver’s father Petter driving a factory Fiesta WRC – Millener added: “We’ve talked. From what we understand, Oliver has options and he needs to decide what he wants to do and where his priorities lie.”
Asked if he thought Solberg could win in a Puma, Millener said: “Yes, but maybe not next year. You’d have to be realistic, he hasn’t been in Rally1 car for two years and it’s not easy to get straight back on the pace of other drivers.
“Like I said, Oliver has interest in Rally2 and he needs to decide if he wants to be in a Rally1 or a Rally2 car – we’re not interested in having people in the car if they’re not 100% committed to being there.”
