The M-Sport Ford World Rally Team is the first manufacturer in the 2022 FIA World Rally Championship to be fielding a five-car entry at the round four in Portugal that is coming up this weekend.
Rally de Portugal marks the first gravel rally for the new Rally1 hybrid cars and the M-Sport are going all in by entering three Ford Puma Rally1 cars for point scoring plus an additional two Pumas.
Headlining the team’s line-up for Portugal is the nine-time champion Sébastien Loeb from France who won the first rally of the new era in Rallye Monte-Carlo. He is teaming up with the Irishman Craig Breen and Frenchman Adrien Fourmaux for the main team while Britoin Gus Greensmith and Frenchman Pierre-Louis Loubet are additional entries.
Despite Portugal’s reputation for being a really challenging rally for both the cars and the crews, the team has been delivering strong results at the event over the years with the last win being in 2017.
The M-Sport Team Principal Richard Millener says they are proud to be the first manufacturer to field a five-car entry in this era and believes the Puma will perform well on the Portuguese roads.
“Portugal is always a tough rally and with it being our first proper gravel rally with the new car, it will likely be a big challenge. With a five-car line-up the team has been working under exceptional circumstances since Croatia and it’s a proud moment for us all to be the first manufacturer to field five Hybrid Rally1 cars on a single event.” Millener said.
“From our testing and development programme last year and the feedback from our pre-event test, I think the Puma Hybrid will perform well on gravel as our drivers are feeling comfortable and confident in the car.“
“One major point of enthusiasm within the team is the return of Seb and Isabelle to the team after leading us to victory on the Monte at the start of the year. It’s strange to think we have only had two outings since then, but we are really excited to have them back for the first gravel event of the season. It is especially significant to have such an icon of the sport with us on the same weekend that we are celebrating 50 years of WRC; the timing is just perfect.”
