The M-Sport Ford crew has had a rough go of things the last few rounds in the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC). They struggled at the Acropolis Rally, started strong but faded at Rally Chile, and battled through numerous issues at Central European Rally. Despite all that, The Blue Oval closed out the 2024 season on a high note, powering to its fifth podium at Rally Japan.
Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria brought home the best results of the M-Sport Ford stable in Japan. Fourmaux muscled his way into the lead, showing the way for the first time in his WRC career, winning SSS1 by a hair with just 0.5 seconds over the runner-up. However, Friday’s stages presented a greater challenge for Fourmaux, who dropped to fifth place by midday. His crew applied adjustments to his Ford Puma Rally1 racer, giving him the ability to pace the leaders for a podium finish. He closed out Saturday solidly in P4.
Fourmaux took advantage of Ott Tänak’s misfortune on Sunday, claiming the third position after his competitor retired. Fourmaux captured the sixth-best time in the Power Stage, culminating in a podium finish in Rally Japan.
Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka also proved their mettle in their M-Sport Ford Puma. On Friday, challenging road conditions, tire choice, and car handling proved to be obstacles throughout the day, and Munster guided the race car to a sixth-place finish. Saturday brought similar challenges, but Munster laid down the second-fastest time during Saturday’s session, finishing out the day solidly in sixth place.
Munster picked up fifth place after Tänak crashed out on Sunday, holding the position through the end of the round.
“We knew the Puma can be competitive on Tarmac, and this weekend both Adrien and Greg delivered,” said Richard Millner, M-Sport Ford Team Principal. “Although Adrien needed to make quite a few changes to find his top pace, he never gave up and his persistence has resulted in his fifth podium of the year – a fantastic end to the season for him and Alex. Really well done to them both. For Greg and Louis another awesome weekend as well, just showing their development and improvements since the beginning of the year.”
Comment
Since the category changed and the brand decided to replace the Fiesta with the Puma, what does this motorsport category bring to Ford, as in the Focus era it was even a champion and now it seems to have declined a lot?