New M-Sport Team Principal Rich Millener. Photo: Martin Holmes
This year WRC2 Pro presents a lot of opportunities. “You have to keep developing new talent. WRC2 was a brilliant platform for that, but if you were an occasional privateer you knew that you were never going to get a result as you were up against guys doing every rally. "So separating WRC2 out into a Pro category, which has an involvement with a manufacturer, allows a group of young drivers to go on and potentially develop into works drivers and it opens up WRC2 again for pure privateers. "They now have a chance of getting a podium or a victory, which would encourage their sponsors. That's the key, to keep people coming into the championship and keep them there as well.” Is M-Sport funding the WRC2 Pro drivers? “We're not funding anybody this year apart from Elfyn and Teemu, they're the only two people we are supporting. "We've worked with Gus for quite a while now, coming up through Juniors, but we are doing all we can to help him on as many events as possible. He's shown that he's got the ability to get good results, and once somebody has been committed into the WRC like him for that long, we try to help where we can.” What do you know about the second M-Sport WRC2 driver Lukasz Pienazek? “We saw him last year in WRC2 and he had some good performances. Getting more experience in the WRC is still going to be the biggest thing that he needs to work on. "I think it's his first real time in a big team. We've met him a few times, not much more than that. He is a nice guy and seems to fit in well and knows what he wants to achieve. "Our idea is to help him with everything we can and get some good results.”🇬🇧 @ElfynEvans | @scottmartinat and 🇫🇮 @TeemuSuninenRac | @SalminenMarko testing today @MSportLtd @FordPerformance Fiesta WRC to @ACM_Media @rallyemontecarl 📷 Frédéric Cavanna pic.twitter.com/8qxhvJr42d
— eWRC-results (@eWRCresults) January 8, 2019
What is the future for the Fiesta R5? “The next step is the new car which is currently being tested. We've done about 10 or 12 days testing at the moment, and have the same amount again still to do. "The idea is that it will be released with July homologation, so hopefully from Finland onwards we'll be seeing some new cars appear. "That is the next big step for us, because that's where we were making the budget which allowed us to go rallying in WRC. It is all linked together, so it's really important that the R5 is successful as well.” And the Fiesta R2? “The new R2 was launched at the end of 2018 with another tweak on the performance. Apart from the new bodywork there is a lot on the mechanical side of things which have been improved and changed as well. "The Junior championship has been very successful and its looking like a really healthy number of entries, which is great. "At the moment our goals are focused on WRC and WRC2 activities and the R5 and R2 cars. Apart from that we don't have much else going on in rallying, but that's keeping a lot of people busy. "We need to concentrate on what we know we're good at and what we can achieve so we don't want to go too far away from these cars. "So I think the WRC is in a good position, keeping us all incredibly busy and the goal is still to be there for years to come.”With Rallye Monte-Carlo just around the corner, our crews have been making their final preparations in the workshop... #WRC #FordPerformance pic.twitter.com/ZylsHtZTe8
— M-Sport (@MSportLtd) January 14, 2019
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