 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(June 2013) |
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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Motorsport Automotiveengineering |
| Founded | 1979; 46 years ago (1979) |
| Founder | Malcolm Wilson |
| Headquarters | Dovenby Hall,United Kingdom |
Key people |
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| Website | m-sport.co.uk |
M-Sport is a motorsport engineering company headquartered atDovenby Hall nearCockermouth,United Kingdom. It is primarily known for entering theFIA World Rally Championship (WRC) since 1997 in partnership withFord, manufacturing race and rally cars, and providing parts and motorsport services to customers. The company has anautomotive evaluation facility at its headquarters, and a second manufacturing facility inKraków,Poland.[1][2][3]
In 2023, theM-Sport Ford World Rally Team contest the World Rally Championship andWRC2 support championship. M-Sport also organise, operate and act as promoter of theJunior WRC championship on behalf of theFIA. They also provide the officialTOCA engine option used inBTCC since 2022.
M-Sport began in 1979 when rally driverMalcolm Wilson formedMalcolm Wilson Motorsport, primarily to facilitate his own rallying career and offering motorsport contracting services to customers such as rally car preparation.[4] Reflecting the career of Malcolm Wilson as a driver, the company grew steadily through the 1980s.[5] Wilson and his wife Elaine formed a second company in 1987, M-Sport Limited (known as M. Sport Limited until 2019), trading and manufacturing rally car parts and components.[1]
Following the withdrawal of Ford from motorsport entries in the mid-1990s, M-Sport were awarded the contract to operate and promote theFord World Rally Team in the WRC from 1997 with Wilson as Team Principal. With his driving career effectively over, M-Sport assumed all trade of Malcolm Wilson Motorsport,[6] legally from 1 January 1998.[1]
The business expanded over time to become a successful manufacturer of rally cars, sold to competitors worldwide.[7] By 2021, they offered rally cars in all 5 tiers of theRally Pyramid.
Besides rally and the Ford partnership, the company also ran the officialBentley Motorsport outfit competing in theGT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup between 2014 and 2019. In 2018, the company became technical partner toJaguar, assisting in the build of theI-Pace eTrophy racecar used in the championship of the same name.[2]
In 2022, M-Sport released the newFord Puma Rally1 with hybrid powertrain forRally1 category. Hybrid system will recover energy during braking and can be deployed via electric motor together with the internal combustion engine.[8][9]
At the end of 1996, Ford Motorsport selected the company to spearhead theFord team's entry for the1997 World Rally Championship season with theFord Escort WRC, a hastily built World Rally Car equivalent of theGroup A car. Victories in Greece and Indonesia saw faith in the small team rewarded, and they went on to finish runner-up in the manufacturers' championship.
By the middle of 1998, Ford chose M-Sport to design and build the newFord Focus WRC. The new car appeared in 1999 with a new driver,Colin McRae, and immediately sprang to the attention of the world press by recording fastest stage times on its first event, theMonte Carlo Rally. However, the two cars entered were excluded from the event due to the use of an illegal modified water pump. By the third event — theSafari Rally in Kenya — the team had scored its first WRC victory. A month later, an on-form Colin McRae made it two in a row at theRally of Portugal.[citation needed]
With a move to new premises atDovenby Hall, M-Sport expanded rapidly, employing over 170 people. In 2006, the Wilson-led Ford team took the manufacturers' World Rally championship title;[10] it was the first time Ford had achieved this feat in 25 years of competing. Since then, M-Sport Ford won seven FIA World Rally Championships, with 61 victories and 262 podiums.[11]
For the2008 season, the company employed the driving talents ofMikko Hirvonen andJari-Matti Latvala in their challenge for the World Rally Championship.
The2009 season saw Mikko Hirvonen andCitroën'sSébastien Loeb fight a closely fought battle throughout the year which ended with Loeb the victor by just one point.
Beside the Ford entry, the company also ran two cars on behalf of theM-Sport Ford World Rally Team.[10]Matthew Wilson andHenning Solberg were the two drivers competing in 2010. On occasions, a third car was run with a "guest" driver.
M-Sport supplied cars, personnel, servicing support and/or other entry services to the following customer teams to compete in the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers:
The company ran the one-makeFiesta Sporting Trophy rally series, which it launched in 2006, and the Fiesta Sporting Trophy International (FSTi) series.[10][14][15]
M-Sport started preparingBentley Continental GT3 forBlancpain Endurance Series andBritish GT Championship in 2014.
M-Sport supplies Ford Fiesta Rallycross Supercars toGlobal Rallycross Championship teamsHoonigan Racing Division since 2013, andChip Ganassi Racing andBryan Herta Autosport since 2015.
M-Sport, alongside Ford Performance andHoonigan Racing Division has developed Ford Focus RS RX, scheduled to competing in2016 FIA World Rallycross Championship.
M-Sport will provide the official engine option for TOCA used in the BTCC from the 2022 season.[16]
At the beginning of 2009 Ford with M-Sport started work on aS2000 rally version of the newFord Fiesta. The new car, designed by Christian Loriaux, was launched on 18 November 2009 at M-Sport's headquarters. The car made its public debut as a course car at theIRC Rally Scotland driven byMatthew Wilson. Ford did not run a works entry in the 2010IRC but M-Sport did its own programme of events with Ford's support both on the technical and financial side.[17] M-Sport announced on 8 January 2010 that it was entering the IRC which means that Ford will be a registered manufacturer in the series.[18] Works Ford WRC driverMikko Hirvonen gave the car its first competitive outing on theMonte Carlo Rally leading the event from start to finish.[19]
A number of private entry were made in the 2010Super 2000 World Rally Championship.
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| Year | Entrant | No | Car | Drivers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Drivers | Points | Teams | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | M-Sport Bentley | 7 | Bentley Continental GT3 |  Steven Kane | MNZ 8 | SIL 1 | PRI 1 | SPA 9 | NUR 5 | 3rd | 59 | 2nd | 78 |
| Guy Smith | |||||||||||||
| Andy Meyrick | |||||||||||||
| 8 | Bentley Continental GT3 |  Jérôme d'Ambrosio | MNZ 7 | SIL 10 | PRI Ret | SPA 11 | NUR 7 | 20th | 15 | ||||
| Duncan Tappy | |||||||||||||
 Antoine Leclerc | |||||||||||||
| 2015 | M-Sport Bentley | 7 | Bentley Continental GT3 | Steven Kane | MNZ 5 | SIL 9 | PRI 2 | SPA Ret | NUR 2 | 2nd | 59 | 2nd | 96 |
| Guy Smith | |||||||||||||
| Andy Meyrick | |||||||||||||
| 8 | Bentley Continental GT3 |  Maximilian Buhk | MNZ 13 | SIL 6 | PRI 12 | SPA Ret | NUR 5 | 10th | 31 | ||||
 Andy Soucek | |||||||||||||
| Maxime Soulet |
