The team principal of M-Sport Ford, Richard Millener, says that his team wants to retain the Ford engine when WRC enters to a new era in 2027 saying that they will consider another manufacturer if Ford decides to leave.
The World Rally Championship will have new regulations from 2027 onwards as the new cars will use the Rally2 cars as a base including their engine. Recent rumors suggested that M-Sport might switch from a Ford to a Lynk & Co engine from that year. However, Millener clarifies that his teams wants to continue with Ford rejecting the recent rumors while it must be mentioned that Lynk & Co is known for its electric cars which are not allowed in World Rally Championship yet. The British team will run two Ford Puma Rally1 cars with Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong in 2026 while Gregoire Munster will drive the third car in Monte Carlo. Finally, we do not know yet if Martins Sesks will get a Rally1 drive with the Puma Rally1 next year.
"The goal for us is to continue with Ford and to get back to a point where they want to be challenging for a championship", Millener said.
"I think the automotive market is very difficult at the moment; honestly, it’s complete chaos for car manufacturers.
"Half of them switched to EV and were going in the future of EV.
"And then it was announced that the governments are all going to backtrack and allow combustion to come in and concentrate more on CO2 than electric.
"But one thing clear is that Malcolm’s heart is with Ford and always has been, and he doesn’t want to move away from Ford.
"And that’s our number one goal.
"If they don’t want to come back to the very top level and other manufacturers are around, as a business, of course we would have to consider other options because we need to continue as M-Sport, but we have such a legacy with them, you wouldn’t want to break any of that just on a whim that you might get a different manufacturer as such".
Source: DirtFish.com
Photo Credits: M-Sport
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