All three M-Sport Ford crews were surprised by their good performances at the Croatian Rally…

22.04.2024 – 10:35

Ford Works GmbH

Cologne (sensitive)

• Adrien Fourmaux defends third place in the World Championship in the drivers’ standings in the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 thanks to bonus points for his best time on the Power Stage.
• Gregoire Munster/Louis Louka get their best results of the season so far on the Croatian tarmac.
• Talented youngster William Creighton in Ford Fiesta Rally2 shined with five best times in the WRC2 category

At the Rally Croatia, the M-Sport Ford team had a near perfect weekend with its two Puma Hybrid Rally1 crews: both Adrien Fourmaux and Grégoire Munster showed impressive speed in the fourth of 13 rounds of the World Rally Championship. Rally and at the same time. he kept a cool head on the hard asphalt roads of Croatia. The Croatian Rally provided plenty of action and excitement right to the end. The difficult conditions hit some of the top drivers.

Adrien Fourmaux and co-driver Alex Coria wanted to confirm their good form after finishing on the podium twice in a row in Sweden and Kenya and another top result in Croatia – for example with a third podium on three different road surfaces. Fourmaux initially approached this goal cautiously on Friday, before increasing his pace for each special stage (SS) in the afternoon and setting his sights on Ott Tänak, who was ahead of him in fourth place. The Frenchman finished the first stage with the fastest time on stage 8, just beaten by eight-time world champion Sébastien Ogier.

However, the rain clouds gathered in Zagreb announced that Saturday will bring many new challenges. Tire choice was the main topic of conversation in the service park and the team’s meteorologists tried to predict when and where the rain would occur. Fourmaux mainly used soft wet tires for his Puma Hybrid Rally1. Although it remained drier, the 28-year-old maintained his consistent position and set the best time on the 15km long SS 9 at the start of the stage so he continued to put Tänak ahead of him under pressure to finish the second stage in fifth place. A total, which meant that he had previously earned himself eight World Championship points.

At the beginning of the so-called “Super Sunday”, the French immediately set the second fastest time and stayed close to the podium places. However, on SS 18, the third-to-last stage of the rally, he hit a track barrier with his front wheel – it ripped off the steering column on the Puma Hybrid Rally1. Fortunately, Fourmaux and Coria had the spare part they needed on board and were able to continue their journey thanks to temporary repairs outside the route. However, considering the damage, the small loss of time of around 15 minutes meant that instead of the general level, the entire concentration was on the final Power Stage. There Fourmaux showed all his skills, distanced himself from all the elites of the world and gained five important bonus points for the fastest time in the World Cup table. With a total of 13 points from Croatia, he is defending third place in the drivers’ standings.

Gréoire Munster/Louis Louka ran a flawless rally

His teammate Grégoire Munster and co-driver Louis Louka also put in a good performance in Croatia, driving a flawless rally and were rewarded with their best result of the season so far. Just like Fourmaux, the Luxembourg-licensed Belgian started on a wait-and-see basis on Friday. After getting more used to the car and track conditions, he set fast times and battled with experienced rivals such as Andreas Mikkelsen and Takamoto Katsuta.

Despite a poor tire choice, Munster remained on the heels of rival Mikkelsen on Saturday. In eighth place at the end of the second stage, the Belgian recorded three World Championship points. On SS 18, which surprised many of the crew – including teammates Fourmaux/Coria – Munster drove his Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 quickly and in a controlled manner to fifth place in SS. Munster then finished the car without any faults or technical problems and, finishing sixth in “Super Sunday” and seventh overall, scored two more championship points.

William Creighton: First roll, then restart with the tenth position

In the WRC2 category, William Creighton and Liam Regan showed impressive speed in Fiesta Rally2, but they also had to learn the hard way. Despite an early puncture, the young Irishman recorded five WRC2 best times and the third fastest time on stage one. However, in Friday’s final special stage, he overdid it, cornering too fast and moving the Fiesta Rally2 out of bounds.

The Irish pair looked unhappy at Saturday’s restart. In the second round of the day, Creighton and Regan earned several top-10 times in their category and continued to move up the rankings. The final day was just as interesting: the guys reached the finish line in tenth place in the WRC2 category without any further incidents.

“Croatian Rally is never without drama, unfortunately today is the case,” M-Sport team boss Richard Millener begins his summary. “Everything was going well until luck turned on the SS 18. It’s a shame that Adrien Fourmaux got out of the lead, but fortunately he and Alex Coria are great technicians. They kept cool, fixed the car and continued. Because of that and Alex Coria. system new points, a lot was at stake Then they followed it up with this impressive victory on the Power Stage – Adrien proved again that he could win the World Championship race, not a perfect day, but still good. Grégoire Munster and Louis Louka drove regularly throughout the meeting and they learned how crazy the road conditions are when it starts later we are very happy with the overall results of our team in Croatia. We are now taking the momentum from the last three World Cup meetings and looking forward to Portugal.”

Grégoire Munster / Louis Louka (B/B, Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, starting number 13). Location: 7; WC space: 11

“I’m very happy that we finished without any problems,” said the Belgian, summing up his best position of the year so far. “After the season did not start as we wanted, this result can now give us new energy. I found the meeting very necessary with the different dimensions that you had to face the decision. We were able to put a gap in the competition. by 1.5 seconds. It decreased the kilometer on Friday to 0.5 seconds towards the end of the rally – so everything is going in the right direction.”

Adrien Fourmaux / Alexandre Coria (F/F, Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1, starting number 16); Location: 17; World Cup Ranking: 3rd

“Overall, a good weekend for our conference,” reflects Fourmaux. “We fought with Ott Tänak for two days. We were a little slow, so we tried different settings and managed them well on Friday afternoon. When there was a threat of rain on Saturday, unfortunately we had to change the car. little settings But when we went back to Friday’s configuration , the car felt very good, unfortunately, one mistake cost us a lot: in Croatia you have to be perfect everywhere , it was clear to us straight away that we would develop the car and attack perfectly on the Power Stage We will take my first victory of the Power Stage and the points of bonus to him as a positive result.

William Creighton / Liam Regan (IRL/IRL, Ford Fiesta Rally2, start number 30). WRC2 10th place, 26th overall; World championship ranking WRC2: 30

“It was a difficult event for us because of the events of Friday evening and Sunday – but that’s part of Rally Croatia,” admits the 26-year-old Irishman. “What remains positive is that we always managed to keep a good pace. Still we have a lot to learn, but from our limited experience with Fiesta Rally2, things went well.”

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Ford Works GmbH
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