Twelve months ago, Malcolm Wilson’s operation – ‘Ford WRT’ – contested
the opening clash of the 2012 WRC as a factory team. This time round,
while ‘Qatar M-Sport WRT’ is challenging once again for the
Manufacturers’ title, a number of things have inevitably changed since
the withdrawal of Ford’s official backing. Even so, the British team
boss has loss nothing of his customary fighting spirit.
The Ford Happy Hour has become one of the modern WRC’s traditions, and we hear it will continue this season. Indeed, that’s where we talked to Wilson this week, amidst drinks and canapés at Valence’s Café Victor Hugo. But the man himself wasn’t feeling ‘Miserable’. On the contrary…
“In one sense, there haven’t been many changes to the team. We have just tried to make it more efficient with the resources we now have. There is no question, however, that we have fewer people with us on this event, and fewer vehicles. We estimate the cost of bringing one truck to the Monte Carlo Rally to be about £9,000 [€11,000], so valuable savings were possible there. But there are also areas where we have invested more than before, including a comprehensive weather forecast service from MeteoFrance.”
Missing from the service park, too, is the team’s impressive double-decker hospitality unit, but that has more to do with practical reasons than cost savings. “Moving it from Valence to Monaco would have been very complex. We won’t have it in Sweden, either, but it will be in Portugal….”
Wilson stresses that his operation is by no means stretched. “Overall, you know, I’m feeling every bit as confident as before. We have a good, experienced structure, a competitive car and I’m also delighted with the driver line-up I have this year. I have always loved working with youngsters and helping them to obtain their first WRC wins. I think Mads [Ostberg], Evgeny [Novikov] and Thierry [Neuville] can all do that this year, and even Juho [Hanninen], even though he only has two events guaranteed. Hopefully, he will do more.”
M-Sport is also preparing for the future. Its longevity took a boost when it was awarded a contract to prepare Bentley GT race cars, and extra funds for its 2013 WRC campaign can’t be ruled out. “As we speak, there are people exploring new budget opportunities,” he concludes. “The important thing for the moment, is to go out and show that we can get some good results. That’s what we are aiming for…”
from .best-of-rallylive.
