RALLY: M-Sport, the Force Behind The Ford Rally Team
4 January 1999
Courtesy Ford MotorsportsThe design and development of the all-new Ford Focus World Rally Car has been a fully integrated process involving personnel from Ford's engineering facilities in England and Germany and the World Rally Team's Millbrook base.
While the three-way daily exchange of technical information will continue, now that the Focus WRC has taken to the test tracks the job of upholding Ford's honour falls to the World Rally Team operated for Ford by the M-Sport company. It is M-Sport which is building the WRC cars, will undertake all pre-event testing and development work and campaign two Focus WRC cars on each round of the 1999 FIA World Championship.
Under the directorship of Malcolm Wilson, M-Sport was formed in December 1996 to run Ford's world rally campaign and many of the key personnel who played such an important part in the successful rise of Malcolm Wilson Motorsport (MWM) during the 1990s now play a vital role in the Ford squad. Wilson drove Fords on 26 World Championship rallies and won the 1994 British Championship for the marque, before turning to rally car preparation. From its Cockermouth base in Cumbria, MWM undertook comprehensive programmes in several countries and a string of titles followed, scoring over 70 rally victories.
Last season M-Sport guided Ford's Escort World Rally car to sensational 1st-2nd finishes on both the Acropolis and Indonesian rounds of the World Championship, scored points on 11 events and claimed the runner-up position in the manufacturer's title. This year the M-Sport prepared Ford Escorts had scored championship points on 11 of the first 12 rounds, with team leader Juha Kankkunen claiming podium positions on six events - prior to this week's season finale.