The team principal of M-Sport Ford, Richard Millener, says that his team answered to the reliability crisisms with the Adrien Fourmaux's podium in Sweden and Kenya and admits that their strategy must be different in Croatia.
Fourmaux managed to claim his maiden podium in World Rally Championship at Rally Sweden a month ago by completing the top three, but he was able to hold Elfyn Evans behind on the third place of the Saturday classification on this winter rally, but eventually the last one climbed to second on Sunday. At Safari Rally, the Frenchman stayed out of trouble from the beginning since the Stage 13 where he suffered from a puncture, but he managed to keep his third place as the fourth Evans was more than two minutes far. However, the most important thing is that the Puma together with the Yaris were very reliable Rally1 cars compared to the i20N.
"I’m really happy", Millener said.
"We knew we could get this position, but we needed a few things to go our way and we needed Adrien to drive how he drove.
"He had to keep close to everyone, which he did, and he had to choose where to push and where to back off, it was really good.
"We got a lot of criticism last year about our reliability but after three rallies we have scored two podiums.
"I think that speaks for itself in some ways.
"We are putting pressure on ourselves now for the rest of the year, and the strategy for Croatia cannot be like this where we are waiting and hoping, but it needs to be a gradual build and nothing crazy".
Source: Motorsport.com
Photo Credits: M-Sport
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