M-Sport decided to focus all its efforts on the premier class of the WRC at the 90th edition of the Monte-Carlo Rally. A bet that worked out perfectly for the coach from Cumbria, among other things for a Ford Puma Rally1 that was born with good wicks. In fact, the team closed the first round of the calendar with a victory for Sébastien Loeb, podium for Craig Breen and good feelings for Gus Greensmith, not so much for Adrien Fourmaux who made a driving error that ended in a spectacular accident that left him out of the rally.
Strong M-Sport proposal had its consequences in WRC2, as the British squad did not field a Ford Fiesta Rally2 in the silver class of the Monte Carlo Rally. A circumstance that will not be repeated at Rally Sweden according to the provisional entry list for the winter event. In fact, Jari Huttunen will compete in one of two M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2s on the Swedish stages, thus leading the training project. With the second car of the team will compete the local Mattias Adielsson.
Jari Huttunen arrived at M-Sport in the final stretch of the 2021 season after doing the opposite path to his compatriot Teemu Suninen. Without opportunities at Hyundai, the Finn broke his relationship with the South Korean firm to compete in a Ford Fiesta Rally2 at the Monza Rally, last appointment of the past campaign. A first contact with the vehicle that Huttunen liked very much, to the point that Jari scored the victory in the silver category of the transalpine event.
In the absence of knowing which appointments are included in Huttunen’s final program with M-Sport in WRC2, the only tangible reality is that the Finn becomes one of the favorites for victory in the silver category of the Swedish Rally. In the end, Jari is intimately familiar with the winter conditions typical of the Scandinavian event, so he has that ground gained compared to other drivers. With everything, the Norwegian Andreas Mikkelsen is the rival to beat due to his status as current champion
Beyond Sweden M-Sport has in Huttunen a new opportunity to achieve the title of the WRC2 category, success that has consistently eluded him in recent years. In fact, Skoda has claimed the silver class title in five of the last six years, while Citroën took the remaining win. You have to go back to the 2015 season to see a champion M-Sport car thanks to the title of Nasser Al-Attiyah. And even that year the Qatari raced both the Ford Fiesta RRC and the Skoda Fabia R5.