dicembre 22, 2023 - Msport
M-sport Ford world rally team announces 2024 line-up
Comunicato Stampa disponibile solo in lingua originale.
M-Sport Ford World Rally Team is excited to announce that Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria, and Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka will form its line-up for the 2024 World Rally Championship, both driving the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1.
Both Fourmaux and Munster, who enjoyed seasons of strong development in 2023 in the Rally1 and WRC2 categories, will step up in 2024 to take on the full WRC season. The pair represent M-Sport's continued commitment and established history of nurturing future talent into upcoming rally and championship winners. The team is very excited to continue working with Fourmaux and Munster in their quest to achieve important and new career milestones in 2024.
Since its inception, M-Sport has established a heritage of identifying young talent in rallying and providing them opportunities to develop and flourish into top level drivers in the WRC. Both drivers chosen to represent the team in 2024 have experience in the Ford Puma Rally1 and will aim to utilise this familiarity with the car to launch straight into action on the season opener in Monte-Carlo in January.
Adrien Fourmaux's highly anticipated return to the Rally1 category comes off the back of a very successful year for the French driver. His highest accolade in 2023 is certainly his British Rally Championship title, a well-earned achievement after five back-to-back victories on British gravel and Tarmac surfaces. His consistency in the BRC would also support his further success in the WRC2 category. A win just out of reach in Sardinia was soon redeemed by claiming a well-earned second overall on the famously fast Finnish gravel stages. He rounded off his WRC2 season with a dominant RC2 class win on Central European Rally's debut event in October.
His successes across the varied surfaces in WRC once again pipped him as one of the sport's rising stars and earned him a Rally1 drive on the season's final round. Although his outing in Japan wouldn't go to plan, Fourmaux still had the opportunity to put some impressive pace down on Friday morning. With the re-introduction to the Puma out of the way, Fourmaux is set and familiarised back into Rally1 ways in-order to hit the ground running in Monte-Carlo next month.
A new face to most of the team at the start of 2023, Grégoire Munster now finds himself well established within the M-Sport contingent. A successful and very consistent year for the Luxembourger, Munster is in the position to be one of the most promising young drivers in the 2024 season.
His achievements to date include two Belgian Junior titles plus a number of top-five WRC2 finishes since his category debut in 2022. Since his maiden event in the Ford Fiesta Rally2 on Rallye Monte-Carlo in January 2023, Munster would make steady progression throughout the season, culminating in a WRC2 Challenger win in Greece. Earlier in the season he also took the category win in Junior WRC in Estonia, behind the wheel of a Fiesta Rally3.
Munster would then impress fans and the team on his debut Rally1 events in Chile and Central Europe. He fought hard to get onto good terms with the Puma in Chile and saw this come true on his preferred Tarmac surface traversing three countries in Central Europe, as he would claim an overall fourth-fastest time and his best overall time on a WRC stage to date.
The 24-year-old's career so far exemplifies M-Sport's progression pyramid as he climbs through the categories, honing his knowledge, instinct and speed to bring him to the next opportunity – a full WRC season at the top level. He continues his partnership with co-driver Louis Louka, and the pair will further their learning in the Puma and focus their sights on a consistent season building speed and experience across all the varied surfaces the WRC has to offer.
Both crews will line up their newly liveried Pumas at the start ramp on Rallye Monte-Carlo next month. The team's reputation for unique and breath-taking designs will keep fans on the edge of their seats until the new livery is launched at the Autosport International Show, UK, on Friday 12th January.
Richard Millener, Team Principal, said:
"2024 will see us take a new and different approach compared to the last 12 months. Developing and helping young talent prove themselves is an exciting way to tackle a WRC season, and with several of the top drivers not competing across the full championship we have opportunities to put in some strong and surprising performances. We still have all the ingredients to deliver results and the team is motivated to start again in a few weeks' time with an almost blank paper on what we can achieve.
"Adrien, Alex, Gregoire and Louis are all great guys who possess a lot of determination and motivation. A young team can create great energy and great things can come from that so I cannot wait to start working with them all again to show what we know we can achieve."
Adrien Fourmaux said:
"I'm very happy to be back in Rally1 for 2024. Achieving this drive was the main goal of the 2023 season and I'm thrilled to return for a full season in the Puma next year. I'm grateful to M-Sport, Ford and Red Bull for having the confidence and trust in me to give me another year at the top level and allow me to show my capabilities.
"I've enjoyed being part of the development of the Fiesta Rally2 in 2023, and I think this will help me for the upcoming season with the Rally1 car. It will be a very interesting season for everybody, especially with the new regulations and points system.
"We've got a proper plan to work hard and deliver the best results we can, to support the team and get it back to where it deserves to be. I'm also very proud to be the the only French driver competing the full season at the top level of WRC!"
Grégoire Munster said:
"Driving almost the full season in WRC2 in 2023 has been a big positive, it's the first time I had the chance to do nearly all the WRC events and get the mileage. The two drives in the Puma has helped me a lot with getting prepared for the Rally1 drive in 2024. Working within the M-Sport team has also been incredibly useful, you see the WRC2 and Rally1 team all within the same structure, so it's good preparation for Rally1 to feel familiar and at home!
"I'm eager to start in Monte-Carlo, and the goal for 2024 will be first to get some good results and increase the pace rally after rally, try not to make any mistakes and just get all the experience. We're driving against world champions, so it will be a big challenge but I'm really looking forward to it."
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