Thus far, the 2024 FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) season has been a promising one for the M-Sport Ford team, and yet, has also presented its fair share of challenges. M-Sport Ford secured its third straight podium finish and a successful debut for the non-hybrid Puma Rally1 at Rally Poland in early July, but that streak came to an end at Rally Latvia a few weeks later amid mechanical issues, leaving the team optimistic to right the proverbial ship at this past weekend’s Acropolis Rally Greece. However, that wasn’t exactly what happened.
On the bright side, Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria claimed a Power Stage victory during what proved to be a challenging weekend, adding five points to their championship roster. Things started out promising enough as the duo set two consecutive top-five times, followed by second fastest, leaving Fourmaux in second place overall, though he was facing some issues with his Puma’s hybrid system. However, the pair later hit a rock that damaged the front suspension and put an early end to their Friday.
Regardless, in addition to the five points earned from Sunday’s Power Stage win, plus six from finishing second that same day, Fourmaux walked away with a total of 11 points and remains fifth in the championship standings. Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka didn’t fare quite as well after bowing out due to a crash, while Jourdan Serderidis and Fred Miclotte finished 14th – leaving the M-Sport Ford team looking ahead to Rally Chile in a couple of weeks.
“It’s been a great Sunday with Adrien’s second Power Stage win of the year, as well as being second overall in Super Sunday points. But I can’t help feel disappointed about what could have been this weekend; the pace shown by Adrien on Friday clearly proved he had the performance and talent to fight for an overall podium position,” said M-Sport Ford Team Principal Richard Millener. “However, once again, Rally Greece showed us quite how hard an event it really is. So, we can be pleased with the outcome considering there were dramas in each team. Now we have a short break before leaving Europe and returning to Chile, where we have Adrien and Grégoire, but also Martins, back in action. It’s lining up to be an exciting weekend.”
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