M-Sport World Rally Team

M-Sport

Full name	M-Sport World Rally Team
Base	Cumbria, England
Team principal(s)	Malcolm Wilson
Drivers	Mads Østberg Eric Camilli
Co-drivers	Ola Fløene Raigo Mõlder
Chassis	Ford Fiesta RS WRC
Tyres	Michelin
World Rally Championship career
Debut	2006
Constructors' Championships	0
Drivers' Championships	0
Rally wins	0

The M-Sport World Rally Team, formerly Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team, M-Sport Ford World Rally Team and Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team, is the privately run World Rally Championship team of M-Sport, the firm run by Malcolm Wilson that was previously responsible for the operation of the former Ford World Rally Team.

History

2006 season

Wilson at the 2006 Cyprus Rally. Note that the car is named Elaine Joanne, following sponsor Stobart Group's tradition of giving its lorries female names.

Stobart debuted at the 2006 season opener Monte Carlo Rally with drivers Matthew Wilson and Pieter Tsjoen. Wilson went on to compete all the 16 rounds for the team. Other Stobart entrants during the season were Luís Pérez Companc in eight rallies, Kosti Katajamäki in five, Jari-Matti Latvala in four, Juan Pablo Raies at the Cyprus Rally and Andreas Mikkelsen at the Wales Rally GB.

The team's best results were Latvala's fourth place at the Wales Rally GB and Katajamäki's fifth at the Rally of Turkey and sixth at the Swedish Rally. With 44 points the team placed fifth overall in the manufacturers' world championship, behind OMV Peugeot Norway and ahead of Red Bull Škoda.

2007 season

Latvala at the 2007 Rally GB.

In the 2007 season, Latvala and Wilson were joined by Henning Solberg and the three competed in all 16 rounds. Latvala and Solberg were nominated to collect manufacturers' championship points. Mikkelsen and Gareth Jones also drove for Stobart, in three and five events, respectively.

The team achieved its best points total at the Rally Norway, when Solberg took Stobart's first podium place by finishing third and Latvala finished fifth. Solberg later placed third at the Rally Japan and Latvala in the next rally in Ireland. Stobart fought with the Subaru World Rally Team for third place in the manufacturers' championship all year long, but Latvala's technical problems at the season-ending 2007 Wales Rally GB meant that the team had to settle with fourth place and 81 points. The team scored points in every event, and Latvala also led three rallies during the season; Rally d'Italia Sardegna, Rally Finland and Rally Japan.^[1]

2008 season

For the 2008 season, Latvala was promoted to the BP Ford World Rally Team and replaced in the Stobart team by Gigi Galli.^[2] Wilson and Solberg continued with the team and along with Galli are signed to compete in all 15 events with the Ford Focus RS WRC 07. For some events, Solberg's car was entered by the sister Munchi's Ford World Rally Team. At the season opener, the 2008 Monte Carlo Rally, the team's fastest driver was François Duval, driving a fourth Stobart car, who finished in fourth place.^[3] Galli finished third at the Swedish Rally. Duval returned to the team for Rallye Deutschland, and finished third, as the leading Ford driver. On this rally, Galli suffered an injury in a crash that kept him out of action for the rest of the season. Duval replaced him in the team on the next rally in New Zealand. The factory Ford team decided to swap their driver Latvala with Duval for the two tarmac rallies of Catalunya and Corsica, in order to help them to secure the manufacturers' crown. The two drivers returned to their teams for the final two rounds, while Stobart also ran Valentino Rossi on Wales Rally GB.

2009 season

Solberg and Wilson were joined at the team for the start of the 2009 season by Urmo Aava. However, he left the team after two rounds. Solberg scored third-placed finishes in Argentina and Poland. The team were joined in Poland by Krzysztof Hołowczyc, who finished the rally in sixth place. British privateer and founder of team sponsor Vodka Kick Steve Perez was entered by the team on Rally GB. The team finished third in the manufacturers' standings behind the Ford and Citroën factory teams. Solberg and Wilson finished sixth and seventh in the drivers' standings respectively.

2010 season

Wilson and Solberg remained with the team again for 2010. For the opening Rally Sweden, Finnish entrepreneur Mattias Therman paid for Stobart to run an additional two cars on the rally for himself and retired former world champion Marcus Grönholm. Gronholm endured many issues during the rally and could only finish in 21st place. During the season for team drove several other drivers alongside the regular drvers Solberg and Wilson – Per-Gunnar Andersson in Bulgaria, Duval in Germany, Juha Kankkunen in Finland, Ken Block in France and Spain and Liu Chao Dong in Wales. In various races Solberg, Dennis Kuipers and Mads Østberg drove the new Ford Fiesta S2000. Again the team finished third in the manufacturers' standings.

2011 season

Willson and Solberg were retained in 2011 with Mads Østberg and Evgeny Novikov joining the team. The best finishes were two second places in Sweden and Wales. Like in the previous seasons the team finished 3rd behind the works entries of Ford and Citroën.

2012 season

Mads Østberg at the 2013 Rallye Deutschland.

Stobart's support was withdrawn in 2012 and the team was rebranded as M-Sport Ford World Rally Team. Novikov remained with the team and was joined by Ott Tänak, while Østberg, Willson and Solberg left.

2013 season

With Ford no longer having works entry the M-Sport World Rally Team acquired sponsorship from Qatar via Nasser Al-Attiyah. The Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team became the de facto lead team, with returning Mads Østberg and Evgeny Novikov. Meanwhile, a separate formation – Qatar World Rally Team was also supported by M-Sport, with drivers Al-Attiyah and Thierry Neuville. The team also fielded Ford Fiesta R5 for the 2012 WRC Academy champion Elfyn Evans in the WRC-2. Neuville finished the season as runner-up, long way behind Sebastien Ogier, whiler the team finished 3rd in the team standings.

2014 season

The Qatar's sponsorship ended after the end of the 2013 season. Mikko Hirvonen and Elfyn Evans were nominated for points for the team, while a separate entry would be formed for Robert Kubica – RK M-Sport World Rally Team. Both teams have scored points separately from one another. Hirvonen finished his last season in WRC in 4th place with 126 points, exactly the same amount he scored in 2013, while Evans's debut season ended in 7th place. The team again finished 3rd in the team standings, this time beat revived Hyundai WRT.

2015 season

Elfyn Evans remained in the team, while Ott Tanak returned to M-Sport, replacing Hirvonen.

WRC results

Year	Entrant	Car	No	Driver	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	WDC	Points	TC	Points
2006	Stobart VK Ford Rally Team	Ford Focus RS WRC 04	9	Matthew Wilson	MON 15	SWE 14	MEX 16	ESP 15	FRA 16	ARG 8	ITA 34	GRE 10	GER 12	FIN 10		CYP 10	TUR 12				28th	1	5th	44
		Ford Focus RS WRC 06													JPN 40			AUS 27	NZL 13	GBR 12
		Ford Focus RS WRC 04	10	Pieter Tsjoen	MON 14																–	0
				Kosti Katajamäki		SWE 6					ITA Ret	GRE 26		FIN 14			TUR 5			GBR	14th	7
				Luís Pérez Companc			MEX 12			ARG 9						CYP 14					26th	2
		Ford Focus RS WRC 06													JPN 11			AUS 22	NZL 7
		Ford Focus RS WRC 04		Jari-Matti Latvala				ESP 16	FRA Ret				GER 34								13th	9
		Ford Focus RS WRC 06																		GBR 4
		Ford Focus RS WRC 04	17	Juan Pablo Raies	MON	SWE	MEX	ESP	FRA	ARG	ITA	GRE	DEU	FIN	JPN	CYP Ret	TUR	AUS	NZL	GBR	–	0	–	–
			19	Andreas Mikkelsen	MON	SWE	MEX	ESP	FRA	ARG	ITA	GRE	DEU	FIN	JPN	CYP	TUR	AUS	NZL	GBR Ret	–	0	–	–
			23	Luís Pérez Companc	MON	SWE 23		ESP	FRA		ITA 12	GRE	DEU	FIN			TUR			GBR	27th	2	–	–
2007	Stobart VK Ford Rally Team	Ford Focus RS WRC 06	9	Jari-Matti Latvala	MON Ret	SWE Ret	NOR 5	MEX 7	POR 8	ARG 4	ITA 9	GRE 12	FIN Ret	GER 8	NZL 5	ESP 7	FRA 4	JPN 25	IRE 3	GBR 10	8th	30	4th	81
			10	Henning Solberg	MON 14	SWE 4	NOR 3	MEX 9	POR 11	ARG 5	ITA 4	GRE 5	FIN 5	GER 13	NZL 9	ESP 10	FRA 9	JPN 3	IRE 16	GBR 15	6th	34
			16	Matthew Wilson	MON 12	SWE Ret	NOR 26	MEX 8	POR 12	ARG 30	ITA 12	GRE 10	FIN 10	GER 9	NZL 10	ESP 11	FRA Ret	JPN 4	IRE 7	GBR 6	11th	11
			18	Alessandro Bettega	MON	SWE	NOR	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	GRE	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA 11	JPN	IRE	GBR	–	0
		Ford Focus RS WRC 04	22	Gareth Jones	MON	SWE	NOR	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	GRE	FIN Ret	GER	NZL						–	0
		Ford Focus RS WRC 05														ESP Ret	FRA	JPN	IRE Ret	GBR Ret
			27	Andreas Mikkelsen	MON	SWE	NOR 10	MEX													–	0
		Ford Focus RS WRC 04							POR 10	ARG	ITA	GRE	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	IRE	GBR
			29	Ray Breen	MON	SWE	NOR	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	GRE	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	IRE Ret	GBR	–	0
		Subaru Impreza WRC 06	23	Eamonn Boland	MON	SWE	NOR	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	GRE	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	IRE 31	GBR	–	0
2008	Stobart VK Ford Rally Team	Ford Focus RS WRC 07	7	Gianluigi Galli	MON 6	SWE 3	MEX Ret	ARG 7	JOR 8	ITA 4	GRE Ret	TUR Ret	FIN Ret	GER Ret							9th	17	4th	67
				François Duval											NZL Ret			JPN Ret	GBR 6		7th	25
				Matthew Wilson												ESP 9	FRA 8				10th	15
			8	François Duval	MON 4									GER 3							7th	25
				Henning Solberg		SWE 13		ARG Ret	JOR 4		GRE 8	TUR 5	FIN 5								8th	22
				Matthew Wilson			MEX 6			ITA 12					NZL 17			JPN 7	GBR 9		10th	15
				Jari-Matti Latvala												ESP 6	FRA 4				4th	58
			14	Henning Solberg	MON 9		MEX			ITA				GER 7	NZL	ESP	FRA 15	JPN	GBR Ret		8th	22
			16	Matthew Wilson	MON 10	SWE		ARG Ret	JOR 5		GRE 6	TUR 7	FIN 9	GER 12							10th	15
			20	Barry Clark	MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	JOR	ITA	GRE	TUR	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA 10	JPN	GBR 10		–	0
			46	Valentino Rossi	MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	JOR	ITA	GRE	TUR	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	GBR 12		–	0
		Ford Focus RS WRC 04	23	Steve Perez	MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	JOR	ITA	GRE	TUR	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	GBR 19		–	0
		Ford Focus RS WRC 05	24	Dave Weston, Jr	MON	SWE	MEX	ARG	JOR	ITA	GRE	TUR	FIN	GER	NZL	ESP	FRA	JPN	GBR 33		–	0
2009	Stobart VK Ford Rally Team	Ford Focus RS WRC 08	5	Urmo Aava	IRE 10	NOR 8															19th	1	3rd	80
				Matthew Wilson			CYP 5	POR Ret	ARG 5	ITA 6	GRE 13	POL 5	FIN 8	AUS 6	ESP 7	GBR 6					7th	28
			6	Henning Solberg	IRE 4	NOR 4	CYP 18	POR 5	ARG 3	ITA 8	GRE 14	POL 3	FIN 30	AUS 7	ESP 9	GBR 5					6th	33
			15	Krzysztof Holowczyc	IRE	NOR	CYP	POR	ARG	ITA	GRE	POL 6	FIN	AUS	ESP	GBR					16th	3
			16	Matthew Wilson	IRE 7	NOR 7															7th	28
		Ford Focus RS WRC 07	17	Steve Perez	IRE	NOR	CYP	POR	ARG	ITA	GRE	POL	FIN	AUS	ESP	GBR 11					–	0
2010	Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team	Ford Focus RS WRC 08	5	Marcus Grönholm	SWE 21																–	0	4th	176
				Matthew Wilson		MEX 16	JOR 5	TUR 7	NZL 6	POR 6	BUL 9	FIN 6	GER 6	JPN 22	FRA 8	ESP 6	GBR 7				7th	74
			6	Henning Solberg	SWE 6	MEX 6	JOR 9	TUR 25	NZL 7	POR Ret		FIN Ret		JPN 7			GBR 6				8th	45
				Per-Gunnar Andersson							BUL 7										13th	8
				François Duval									GER Ret								–	0
			12	Matthew Wilson	SWE 7																7th	74
				Juha Kankkunen		MEX	JOR	TUR	NZL	POR	BUL	FIN 8	GER	JPN	FRA	ESP	GBR				16th	4
			15	Liu Chao Dong	SWE	MEX	JOR	TUR	NZL	POR	BUL	FIN	DEU	JPN	FRA	ESP	GBR Ret				–	0
			17	Mattias Therman	SWE 24	MEX	JOR	TUR	NZL	POR	BUL	FIN 14	DEU	JPN	FRA	ESP	GBR				–	0
			43	Ken Block	SWE	MEX	JOR	TUR	NZL	POR	BUL	FIN	DEU	JPN	FRA 12	ESP 9	GBR				19th	2
		Ford Fiesta S2000	12	Henning Solberg							BUL 10				FRA 9	ESP 8					8th	45
			18	Mads Østberg	SWE	MEX	JOR	TUR	NZL	POR	BUL	FIN	DEU 16	JPN	FRA 41	ESP	GBR				11th	18
			61	Dennis Kuipers	SWE	MEX	JOR	TUR 9	NZL	POR 19	BUL 13	FIN Ret	GER 24	JPN	FRA 17	ESP 11	GBR 16				19th	2
2011	M-Sport Stobart Ford World Rally Team	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	5	Henning Solberg	SWE Ret	MEX 6	POR 9	JOR 14													9th	59	3rd	178
				Matthew Wilson					ITA 9	ARG 8	GRE 6	FIN 8	GER 11	AUS 4	FRA 10	ESP Ret	GBR 5				7th	63
			6	Mads Østberg	SWE 2	MEX 5	POR 31	JOR 13	ITA 5	ARG 5	GRE 12	FIN 6	GER Ret		FRA 7	ESP 6	GBR 2				6th	88
				Evgeny Novikov										AUS Ret							17th	12
			15	Matthew Wilson	SWE 9	MEX Ret	POR 5	JOR 5													7th	63
				Henning Solberg					ITA Ret	ARG DNS	GRE 5	FIN 7	GER 7	AUS 14	FRA 6	ESP 8	GBR 3				9th	59
			16	Per-Gunnar Andersson	SWE	MEX	POR	JOR	ITA 15	ARG	GRE	FIN								¨	20th	6
				Aaron Burkart									GER 23	AUS	FRA	ESP	GBR			¨	–	0
			18	Ott Tänak	SWE	MEX	POR	JOR	ITA	ARG	GRE	FIN	GER	AUS	FRA	ESP	GBR 6			¨	15th	15
			54	Evgeny Novikov	SWE	MEX Ret	POR	JOR	ITA 14	ARG	GRE 20	FIN Ret	GER		FRA 24	ESP	GBR				17th	12
2012	M-Sport Ford World Rally Team	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	5	Ott Tänak	MON 8	SWE Ret	MEX 5	POR 14	ARG 10	GRE 9	NZL Ret	FIN 6	GER Ret	GBR Ret	FRA 6	ITA 3	ESP Ret				8th	52	3rd	170
			6	Evgeny Novikov	MON 5	SWE 5	MEX Ret	POR 2	ARG 8	GRE Ret	NZL 4	FIN 36	GER Ret	GBR 6	FRA 7	ITA 2					6th	88
				John Powell													ESP Ret				–	0
			8	François Delecour	MON 6																18th	8
				Michał Sołowow		SWE 20	MEX	POR	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	GER	GBR	FRA	ITA	ESP				–	0
			15	Matthew Wilson	MON	SWE	MEX	POR	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	GER	GBR 6	FRA	ITA	ESP				24th	4
			16	Jan Habig	MON	SWE	MEX	POR	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	GER	GBR 28	FRA	ITA	ESP				–	0
			18	Dennis Kuipers	MON	SWE	MEX	POR 6	ARG	GRE	NZL	FIN	GER	GBR	FRA	ITA	ESP				17th	8
2013	Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	4	Mads Østberg	MON 6	SWE 3	MEX 11	POR 8	ARG 7	GRE 6	ITA 8	FIN 3	GER 9	AUS 5	FRA 8	ESP 6	GBR 4				6th	102	3rd	190
			5	Evgeny Novikov	MON Ret	SWE 9	MEX 10	POR 4	ARG 4	GRE 9	ITA Ret	FIN 6	GER 10	AUS 7	FRA 5	ESP 5	GBR 19				7th	69
			22	Hayden Paddon												ESP 8					18th	8	–	–
				Michał Sołowow													GBR 14				–	0
2014	M-Sport World Rally Team	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	5	Mikko Hirvonen	MON Ret	SWE 4	MEX 8	POR 2	ARG 9	ITA Ret	POL 4	FIN 5	GER 5	AUS 5	FRA 5	ESP 3	GBR 2				4th	126	3rd	208
			6	Elfyn Evans	MON 6	SWE Ret	MEX 4	POR 22	ARG 7	ITA 5	POL 35	FIN 7	GER 4	AUS 8	FRA 6	ESP 14	GBR 5				8th	81
			11	Bryan Bouffier	MON 2																6th	18	–	–
				Ott Tänak		SWE 5		POR Ret	ARG	ITA											14th	10
				Benito Guerra			MEX 6														12th	8
				Michał Sołowow							POL Ret										–	0
				Dennis Kuipers								FIN	GER 8	AUS	FRA 11	ESP	GBR				20th	4
			12	Yuriy Protasov	MON	SWE	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	POL	FIN	GER 9	AUS							–	0
			14	Michał Sołowow	MON	SWE 17	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA		FIN Ret	GER	AUS							–	0
				Yuriy Protasov							POL				FRA 16	ESP 11	GBR				–	0
			15	Ken Block	MON	SWE	MEX	POR	ARG	ITA	POL	FIN	GER	AUS	FRA	ESP 12	GBR				–	0
	RK M-Sport World Rally Team		10	Robert Kubica	MON Ret	SWE 24	MEX Ret	POR Ret	ARG 6	ITA 8	POL 20	FIN 34	GER Ret	AUS 9	FRA Ret	ESP 17	GBR 11				16th	14	8th	26
2015	M-Sport World Rally Team	Ford Fiesta RS WRC	5	Elfyn Evans	MON 7	SWE 6	MEX 4	ARG 3	POR 69	ITA 4	POL 50	FIN 12	GER 9	AUS 6	FRA 2	ESP 34	GBR 6				7th	89	4th	181
			6	Ott Tänak	MON 18	SWE 4	MEX 22	ARG 10	POR 5	ITA 14	POL 3	FIN 5	GER 8	AUS 6	FRA 10	ESP 41	GBR Ret				10th	63
			15	Bryan Bouffier	MON Ret	SWE	MEX	ARG	POR	ITA	POL	FIN	GER	AUS	FRA 8	ESP	GBR				23rd	4	-	0
			17	Yuriy Protasov	MON	SWE 9	MEX	ARG	POR	ITA	POL	FIN	GER	AUS	FRA	ESP	GBR				15th	8

Gallery

• 

  Stobart cars at 2006 Cyprus Rally

• 

  Henning Solberg in 2007

• 

  Henning Solberg in 2007

• 

  Henning Solberg at 2010 Rally Finland

• 

  Henning Solberg with Ford Fiesta S2000 at 2010 Rally Bulgaria

• 

  Jari-Matti Latvala at the 2007 Rally GB

• 

  Matthew Wilson

• 

  Matthew Wilson in 2010

• 

  Mads Østberg at 2011 Acropolis Rally

• 

  Ott Tänak at 2nd Surkee stage at 2012 Rally Finland

• 

  Evgeny Novikov in 2012

• 

  Mads Østberg at the 2013 Rally de Portugal

• 

  Elfyn Evans at the 2014 Rally Sweden

• 

  Ott Tänak at the 2015 Rally Poland

See also

• Stobart Motorsport
• Ford World Rally Team

References

External links

• M-Sport website