The team’s future in the WRC was called into question at last weekend’s Acropolis Rally following the publication of an interview with driver Pierre-Louis Loubet in French media that suggested the squad could be absent from next year’s Rally1 field. The article has since been labelled “fake news” and has been removed.
M-Sport has endured a challenging 2023 campaign which Wilson admits has been a “dreadful year” plagued by misfortune and reliability issues. But the team remains committed to competing in the WRC’s top tier in the future and Wilson believes the operation has the “ingredients” to return to the top.
The Ford squad has matched its victory total of last season courtesy of Ott Tanak’s triumph at Rally Sweden in February.
“We will be doing whatever we can to try and find a way to stay in at the highest level,” Wilson told Autosport/Motorsport.com.
“We have a great team of people and we have still got a great car. We have had a dreadful year this year and I don’t know why. I think everyone has these glitches.
“You only have to look at Formula 1 and where Williams were and McLaren was for example. All the ingredients and the resource is still there to get back to where we need to be.”
Currently competing as a semi-works team with fewer resources compared to Toyota and Hyundai brings challenges every year to secure budgets, but M-Sport has been ever present in rallying’s top tier since 1997.
Source: Autosport