The Spice Girls released their first album. Bill Clinton was about to start his second term as president of the United States and Alan Shearer was voted Europe’s third best soccer player.
But in our world, a secret deal was being done to safeguard the sporting future of one of the biggest carmakers on planet earth. Close to three decades on and Ford remains in the World Rally Championship – and it remains there because of M-Sport.
It’s beyond question that Ford would have departed the WRC were it not for Malcolm Wilson and his team. The partnership has ebbed and flowed in terms of which party has enjoyed the greater return year-on-year, but here they are in a 30th successive season.
And you want to talk to me about M-Sport Lynk & Co?
Is it possible M-Sport could walk away from Ford? Of course it’s possible. Is it probable? In my eyes, no. There’s talk, there’s always talk, of new manufacturers being involved in discussions with Dovenby, but it would need to be a very special deal to break up what is comfortably rallying’s most enduring alliance.
M-Sport has run Fords in the WRC since 1997
Don’t get me wrong, that relationship has been tested down the years. Who could forget Wilson stepping off the plane from London to Tokyo only to have his phone blow up with messages of Ford being ready to walk away. His reaction? First flight in the opposite direction and, once again, he smoothed the waters.
It looked to be all over at the end of 2012. I remember. I was there at the leaving party that was anything but a leaving party. In 2013, Ford was still on the side of the Fiesta WRCs and four years on the ‘blue oval’ was back for a 2017 season which nobody could forget. Sébastien Ogier and M-Sport Ford topped the world in a car and a partnership which eclipsed epoch-making moments from Björn Waldegård and Ari Vatanen.
Fast forward another homologation cycle and Ford’s there again, putting its shoulder to the wheel at the top of the sport’s hybrid era in 2022. And it’s there because it sees value in its association with M-Sport.
Back when the deal was done for Wilson to take over Ford’s WRC effort, the team was working from outbuildings at the Wilson family home. Malcolm Wilson Motorsport had morphed into M-Sport, but few could predict the firm’s future. M-Sport is a cornerstone of the World Rally Championship and a powerhouse in our sport. From its Cumbrian base, the team has looked out of the window and watched as Subaru, Mitsubishi, Citroën, Peugeot, Seat, Škoda and Volkswagen all came and went.
And still Ford stands.
As ever, rumors swirl the service park and talk of a new deal coming out of England’s north-west bound for the World Rally Championship. And there’s no doubt, a 2027 regulation set aimed squarely at bringing more constructors to the party would lend itself to change behind those famous Dovenby doors. Is there a 2027 car locked away and being worked on – virtually or otherwise – in there somewhere? Of course there is.
Wilson, Richard Millener, Chris Williams and all the M-Sport team have been around this game far too long to miss an opportunity. New manufacturers will come to the table, talk the talk and potentially even promise the promise, but Ford’s longevity in WRC, along with its commitment to its Dakar program, would make it hard to ignore.
I’m not naïve enough to think Ford’s biggest cheeses make decisions based on history and heritage, on heart rather than head, but I would wager that retaining Ford offers a better business case than chasing new blood right now. Our sport stands on the brink of technical, sporting and promotional change; Ford sees that and understands its position of authority.
As we all know, with change comes opportunity and the next homologation cycle presents another gilt-edged opening for Ford to put those 30 years’ experience to the best possible use. Do I think Ford would be mad to walk away from the World Rally Championship right now? Absolutely I do.
Do we expect the stories, the speculation to stop? Of course we don’t. But it’s well worth considering the proverb regarding the bird in the hand being worth two in the bush.
