A nightmare start for M-Sport Ford

M-Sport Ford experienced a disastrous first stage of the Monte-Carlo Rally with engine overheating problems on the three Fiestas of Lappi, Suninen and Greensmith, Suninen even being forced to retire due to transmission problems.

Published on 24/01/2020 à 08:56

⁰ View comments)

Richard Millener's troops clearly did not expect to suffer so much in two special stages on the opening of the Rally Monte-Carlo 2020. From the first kilometers of SS1, the partials did not lie.

With a delay accumulating over the kilometers, a clear concern reaches the three Ford Fiesta – M-Sport Ford, the reason being quickly detected: leaves accumulating on the front of the car cause engine overheating.

Forced to slow down, Esapekka Lappi, Teemu Suninen and Gus Greensmith see the seconds go by and all concede more than 17″ on the scratch of Sébastien Ogier (Toyota). Pire dans la deuxième spéciale, puisque Suninen doit renoncer sur transmission problem, when the Greensmith's turbo is acting up.

For Esapekka Lappi, this first night in Monaco with M-Sport Ford ends with a 52″ delay in SS2, and an unfavorable result of 1’07” on the leader. Thierry Neuville (Hyundai).

“This is definitely not the start we wanted, conceded Richard Millener last night. I can't remember the last time we had a problem with a turbo, and it seems Teemu wasn't lucky either.

We need to find a solution to the overheating issues we encountered, but the engineers have been working on it and we hope it won't be too much of a problem for the rest of the race. »

Interviewed by us, Malcolm Wilson explained to us that M-Sport Ford engineers added an additional grille, with a different angle, to create a space with the usual grille and thus let the air pass.

The British boss also admitted that this problem was unprecedented for the Dovenby Hall team, just like the turbo problem experienced by Gus Greensmith.