M-Sport still “has work to do” despite breakthrough WRC win

New signing Ott Tanak’s triumph in Sweden earlier this month ended the Ford squad’s WRC victory drought that had stretched back to January 2022, when Sebastien Loeb scored a famous win in Monte Carlo.

This latest win came following a faultless drive from Tanak in only his second WRC appearance driving the Ford Puma. The Estonian however scored only one stage win, proving that the current Tanak/Puma package is not fastest compared to rivals Toyota and Hyundai.

Wilson openly admits that there is still more to come for the Puma but is confident his team will become stronger as the year continues.

“It has been great to achieve a result like that but we know there are still a lot of things we need to improve,” Wilson told Motorsport.com.

“I will admit there is no question we have work to do but it is work that we can do. I believe we can get stronger.”

When pressed on the areas his team needs to improve, he added: “There are a few things we need to look at. We will be working flat out to give Ott what he wants.

“You are so limited with what you can do due to the homologation [rules] but there are things we can do within the technical regs to really just make him more comfortable in the car.

“I would say performance-wise we know we are okay. Ourselves and Toyota are a little bit slower on top speed which you could see on some of the stages in Sweden but this event is quite unique.”

Team principal Richard Millener confirmed to Motorsport.com that the team is working to develop the Puma in the background.

M-Sport will conduct a pre-event test before next month’s first gravel round of the year in Mexico. Tanak will start the event facing the disadvantage of opening the road, after his Sweden win catapulted the 2019 world champion to the top of the championship standings.