Fourmaux delivered the best result of his WRC career to date to finish a milestone third, 47.9 seconds behind eventual Rally Sweden winner Esapekka Lappi of Hyundai.
The M-Sport Ford driver successfully navigated incredibly challenging conditions that caught out world champions Kalle Rovanpera and Ott Tanak to end Saturday in second position, behind Lappi and in front of Toyota’s Elfyn Evans, to pocket 15 points under the new scoring system.
The run to second at the end of Saturday included a fourth career fastest time on stage 11. The only scare arrived on stage 15 when he had an encounter with a snowbank.
The 28-year-old Frenchman opted not to get drawn into a fight with Evans and subsequently dropped to third at the finish.
The result has lifted him to third in the championship with 29 points having scored 16 more points in two rounds this year than he achieved throughout a difficult maiden full-time Rally1 campaign in 2022.
Fourmaux was recalled to M-Sport’s Rally1 line-up for this season after being dropped to its Rally2 programme last year.
“It is really great. It is only my fourth rally on snow so you can imagine I can be really proud of it,” Fourmaux told Autosport.
“It is my first ever podium at the top level in the second rally of my Rally1 comeback so I am really pleased about it. We are third in the championship, it is crazy.