M-Sport World Rally Team

M-Sport
Full name M-Sport World Rally Team
Base England Cumbria, England
Team principal(s) Malcolm Wilson
Drivers Norway Mads Østberg
France Eric Camilli
Co-drivers Norway Ola Fløene
France 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

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 KubicaRK 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 United Kingdom 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 Belgium Pieter Tsjoen MON
14
0
Finland Kosti Katajamäki SWE
6
ITA
Ret
GRE
26
FIN
14
TUR
5
GBR 14th 7
Argentina 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 Finland Jari-Matti Latvala ESP
16
FRA
Ret
GER
34
13th 9
Ford Focus RS WRC 06 GBR
4
Ford Focus RS WRC 04 17 Argentina Juan Pablo Raies MON SWE MEX ESP FRA ARG ITA GRE DEU FIN JPN CYP
Ret
TUR AUS NZL GBR 0
19 Norway Andreas Mikkelsen MON SWE MEX ESP FRA ARG ITA GRE DEU FIN JPN CYP TUR AUS NZL GBR
Ret
0
23 Argentina 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 Finland 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 Norway 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 United Kingdom 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 Italy 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 United Kingdom 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 Norway 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 Republic of Ireland 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 Republic of Ireland 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 Italy 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
Belgium François Duval NZL
Ret
JPN
Ret
GBR
6
7th 25
United Kingdom Matthew Wilson ESP
9
FRA
8
10th 15
8 Belgium François Duval MON
4
GER
3
7th 25
Norway Henning Solberg SWE
13
ARG
Ret
JOR
4
GRE
8
TUR
5
FIN
5
8th 22
United Kingdom Matthew Wilson MEX
6
ITA
12
NZL
17
JPN
7
GBR
9
10th 15
Finland Jari-Matti Latvala ESP
6
FRA
4
4th 58
14 Norway Henning Solberg MON
9
MEX ITA GER
7
NZL ESP FRA
15
JPN GBR
Ret
8th 22
16 United Kingdom Matthew Wilson MON
10
SWE ARG
Ret
JOR
5
GRE
6
TUR
7
FIN
9
GER
12
10th 15
20 United Kingdom Barry Clark MON SWE MEX ARG JOR ITA GRE TUR FIN GER NZL ESP FRA
10
JPN GBR
10
0
46 Italy 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 United Kingdom 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 United Kingdom 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 Estonia Urmo Aava IRE
10
NOR
8
19th 1 3rd 80
United Kingdom 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 Norway 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 Poland Krzysztof Holowczyc IRE NOR CYP POR ARG ITA GRE POL
6
FIN AUS ESP GBR 16th 3
16 United Kingdom Matthew Wilson IRE
7
NOR
7
7th 28
Ford Focus RS WRC 07 17 United Kingdom 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 Finland Marcus Grönholm SWE
21
0 4th 176
United Kingdom 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 Norway Henning Solberg SWE
6
MEX
6
JOR
9
TUR
25
NZL
7
POR
Ret
FIN
Ret
JPN
7
GBR
6
8th 45
Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson BUL
7
13th 8
Belgium François Duval GER
Ret
0
12 United Kingdom Matthew Wilson SWE
7
7th 74
Finland Juha Kankkunen MEX JOR TUR NZL POR BUL FIN
8
GER JPN FRA ESP GBR 16th 4
15 China Liu Chao Dong SWE MEX JOR TUR NZL POR BUL FIN DEU JPN FRA ESP GBR
Ret
0
17 Finland Mattias Therman SWE
24
MEX JOR TUR NZL POR BUL FIN
14
DEU JPN FRA ESP GBR 0
43 United States Ken Block SWE MEX JOR TUR NZL POR BUL FIN DEU JPN FRA
12
ESP
9
GBR 19th 2
Ford Fiesta S2000 12 Norway Henning Solberg BUL
10
FRA
9
ESP
8
8th 45
18 Norway Mads Østberg SWE MEX JOR TUR NZL POR BUL FIN DEU
16
JPN FRA
41
ESP GBR 11th 18
61 Netherlands 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 Norway Henning Solberg SWE
Ret
MEX
6
POR
9
JOR
14
9th 59 3rd 178
United Kingdom Matthew Wilson ITA
9
ARG
8
GRE
6
FIN
8
GER
11
AUS
4
FRA
10
ESP
Ret
GBR
5
7th 63
6 Norway 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
Russia Evgeny Novikov AUS
Ret
17th 12
15 United Kingdom Matthew Wilson SWE
9
MEX
Ret
POR
5
JOR
5
7th 63
Norway Henning Solberg ITA
Ret
ARG
DNS
GRE
5
FIN
7
GER
7
AUS
14
FRA
6
ESP
8
GBR
3
9th 59
16 Sweden Per-Gunnar Andersson SWE MEX POR JOR ITA
15
ARG GRE FIN ¨ 20th 6
Germany Aaron Burkart GER
23
AUS FRA ESP GBR ¨ 0
18 Estonia Ott Tänak SWE MEX POR JOR ITA ARG GRE FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR
6
¨ 15th 15
54 Russia 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 Estonia 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 Russia 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
Trinidad and Tobago John Powell ESP
Ret
0
8 France François Delecour MON
6
18th 8
Poland Michał Sołowow SWE
20
MEX POR ARG GRE NZL FIN GER GBR FRA ITA ESP 0
15 United Kingdom Matthew Wilson MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE NZL FIN GER GBR
6
FRA ITA ESP 24th 4
16 South Africa Jan Habig MON SWE MEX POR ARG GRE NZL FIN GER GBR
28
FRA ITA ESP 0
18 Netherlands 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 Norway 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 Russia 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 New Zealand Hayden Paddon ESP
8
18th 8
Poland Michał Sołowow GBR
14
0
2014 M-Sport World Rally Team Ford Fiesta RS WRC 5 Finland 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 United Kingdom 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 France Bryan Bouffier MON
2
6th 18
Estonia Ott Tänak SWE
5
POR
Ret
ARG ITA 14th 10
Mexico Benito Guerra MEX
6
12th 8
Poland Michał Sołowow POL
Ret
0
Netherlands Dennis Kuipers FIN GER
8
AUS FRA
11
ESP GBR 20th 4
12 Ukraine Yuriy Protasov MON SWE MEX POR ARG ITA POL FIN GER
9
AUS 0
14 Poland Michał Sołowow MON SWE
17
MEX POR ARG ITA FIN
Ret
GER AUS 0
Ukraine Yuriy Protasov POL FRA
16
ESP
11
GBR 0
15 United States Ken Block MON SWE MEX POR ARG ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA ESP
12
GBR 0
RK M-Sport World Rally Team 10 Poland 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 United Kingdom 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 Estonia 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 France Bryan Bouffier MON
Ret
SWE MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA
8
ESP GBR 23rd 4 - 0
17 Ukraine Yuriy Protasov MON SWE
9
MEX ARG POR ITA POL FIN GER AUS FRA ESP GBR 15th 8

Gallery

See also

References

  1. "Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team". WRC.com. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  2. "Galli joins Stobart Ford for '08". Autosport. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
  3. "Duval stakes case for more events". Crash.net. Retrieved 2008-02-01.

External links

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