M-Sport Ford Down But Not Out After Rally Mexico

March 20, 2023 2:44 pm

After debuting a new livery for the Ford Puma Rally1 hybrid racer and a revamped driver lineup for the 2023 season, the M-Sport Ford World Rally Championship (WRC) team found quick success, securing a fifth-place finish in Monte Carlo before earning a big win in Sweden. Following that impressive start, the M-Sport Ford team set its sights on Rally Mexico – round three of the 2023 FIA World Rally Championship – which just took place this past weekend. Unfortunately, for Ford’s rally team, things didn’t quite go as planned.

After securing a win in Sweden, 2019 WRC champs Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja fought to salvage a ninth overall finish in Mexico, as well as second in the power stage, a bit of a letdown for the duo after a promising start. Things went south rather quickly, however, after Tänak’s Puma suffered a turbo failure that threatened to end his outing prematurely, but the M-Sport team managed to keep it running long enough to stay in the championship points race.

With a new turbo fitted, Tänak battled back and gained some ground on his competition, which ultimately led to a top ten finish by the conclusion of Sunday’s events, giving him four more points in the championship battle. Meanwhile, Pierre-Louis Loubet secured a top-three shakedown time on his first pass, but a broken suspension ended his day prematurely on Friday before suffering the exact same fate on Saturday and limping to a disappointing end on Sunday.

Jourdan Serderidis was also forced to retire on Friday after wrecking his car, but wound up finishing the event, while Adrien Fourmaux’s fight for second place in WRC2 behind the wheel of the Fiesta Rally2 was also thwarted by a rock that damaged the alternator belt. Though that kept him off the podium, Fourmaux did manage to set the fastest time in the power stage, giving him three championship points in the process. Now, the M-Sport team will simply look to swallow its pride and look forward to Rally Croatia, the next event on the docket, which is slated to take place next month.

We’ll have more on M-Sport Ford soon, so be sure and subscribe to Ford Authority for more Ford racing news and comprehensive Ford news coverage.

By Brett Foote

Brett's lost track of all the Fords he's owned over the years and how much he's spent modifying them, but his current money pits include an S550 Mustang and 13th gen F-150.