M-Sport Ford has elected to withdraw French driver Adrien Fourmaux from competition at Rally Japan on November 10th through 13th, 2022, according to a recent report from Motorsport.
The M-Sport Ford rally team initially had Fourmaux slated to drive one of three Ford Puma Rally1 Hybrid race cars at the event with codriver Alexandre Coria beside him, but the team has since retracted their entries. The racing team stated that budget constraints forced them to remove Fourmaux from competition.
“With high costs associated with long-haul events, the team and Adrien feel it is within everyone’s interests to focus on Adrien’s program for 2023 with M-Sport in the WRC as well as with its development projects,” M-Sport Ford said in a statement. At this time, it’s not clear if Fourmaux will rejoin The Blue Oval’s World Rally Championship lineup for the 2023 season, as M-Sport has yet to confirm its driver roster for next year.
Interestingly, this is not the first time Fourmaux’s entry has been withdrawn from a WRC event his year. The French driver also sat out Rally New Zealand earlier this year after a wreck at Acropolis Rally severely damaged his Puma race car, preventing it from being repaired in time for the event. He returned for competition at Rally Spain.
Fourmaux’s departure from Rally Japan means that just two Ford Puma racers fielded by M-Sport Ford will take to the track. Regulars Craig Breen and Gus Greensmith will each pilot a Puma for the event. Breen has confirmed his plans to return to M-Sport next year amid rumors that he would leave his Blue Oval team in favor of Hyundai. Conversely, there have been talks that M-Sport will take on Estonian driver Ott Tanak, who is to part ways with Hyundai, beginning next season, although the team has mentioned concerns regarding its ability to afford his driving expertise.
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Comments
Another press release of M-Sport, another articele in Ford Authority… isn’t it funny? What the hell is Ford doing in Japan? I’ve been there once and I was shocked to hear that they don’t want to speak any English. I will be banned if I write what a Japanese teacher said me but they don’t like Americans. Anyway, Ford has retired from the Japanese market many years ago AND Ford should stop with M-Sport ASAP. As I’ve already written many times, the car and team are NOT up to the competition, wake up please. Can I write a press release that Ford withdraws from WRC? Hope so!
Nonsense. Been to Japan numerous times. Lived in Hiroshima. Worked extensively in Tokyo. The Japanese I ran into be it the locations above or Kyoto, Yokohama, etc. treated me well.
Re English, I was surprised that for a nation dependent on world trade, such a large number of Japanese in government and industry are unable to speak English. The Japanese are, probably not exclusively, racist against both Koreans and Philippinos (this seen by articles in local English papers.). That said, I never felt this towards me as an American; no doubt there are some that harbor ill will towards yanks but I didn’t see this.
Why not let Ford improve the breed by competing? Quitting never made anyone a winner. How many time did GT-40 fail before it won and won and won? Several.