The new car that can resurrect Ford's WRC winning pedigree

This is arguably the most important challenger to ever come off the M-Sport production line. There’s a lot riding on the Cumbrian firm’s latest creation, far more to the Ford Puma hybrid Rally1 car than simply a bid to bring the team and manufacturer back to the top of the World Rally Championship.

The WRC’s decision to adopt hybrid technology from 2022 has thrown teams a new challenge: to construct all-new, tougher, safer and faster cars, powered by a 1.6-litre internal combustion engine coupled to a Compact Dynamics-built 100kW hybrid system. Under the new rules, hybrid power is expected to be used in every stage next year, as well as on road sections between tests. This new era for rallying has arrived to ensure the championship remains relevant and in line with current automotive trends, and provide a platform to attract new manufacturers.

While the rules are yet to lure a new marque, they have reinvigorated Ford, resulting in it stepping up its support of the M-Sport WRC programme through the development of its new hybrid contender. And so, after 18 months of work, the all-new Puma was born.

Such is the importance of these new rules and Ford’s support that M-Sport threatened to walk away from the WRC next year if the regulations were pushed back to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The reason was that Ford’s support is crucial to the operation, as it remains a semi-works squad competing against the might of full factory efforts from Hyundai and Toyota. That’s a battle made tougher in difficult economic times caused by coronavirus and which led to redundancies at M-Sport last year.

To further outline the importance of the Puma, Malcolm Wilson’s WRC powerhouse has openly admitted that its main focus this season is on developing its hybrid challenger for next year’s assault on the championship.

“Without the hybrid, we wouldn’t be in a position to be able to go forward,” says M-Sport team principal Richard Millener. “That was one of the key criteria for Ford, and I think it’s important for the sport that we move forward. Without them [Ford], quite simply we would not be able to do this car in terms of tech, integration of hybrid, testing of hybrid; it’s impossible without them.”

Senior Ford figures Rushbrook (far left, with Millener and Wilson) and Farley (far right, with the Duke of Richmond) were present at the Puma's Goodwood FOS launch

Photo by: M-Sport

For M-Sport, it could provide a turning point after a slump in results since winning the 2017 manufacturers’ crown and back-to-back drivers’ titles in 2017 and 2018 with Sebastien Ogier. The first of those years, of course, was when the WRC ushered in the existing regulations. But since that purple patch it has slipped behind rivals Toyota and Hyundai in the WRC pecking order, its last podium coming in March 2020 when Teemu Suninen finished third in Mexico.

M-Sport has produced its fair share of world-beaters, from the Ford Focus that burst onto the scene in 1999 with Colin McRae to the latest Fiesta, but the Puma is an all-new challenge. It’s a huge undertaking to build an all-new rally car, and that’s a task made even more complicated by the adoption of hybrid technology, a feat that simply couldn’t be achieved without Ford’s expertise and resources in the US.

Thanks to Ford’s support and a huge effort from the team, M-Sport became the first to reveal its hybrid Rally1 car, with the Puma launched at the Goodwood Festival of Speed last month. And if anyone was doubting Ford’s support behind this project, its CEO Jim Farley and head of Ford Performance Mark Rushbrook made the trip from the US to witness the launch – in the middle of a pandemic, no less.

“Certainly it’s the most input that we have ever had in any of the new cars we’ve done in the past,” says M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson. “To get that technical support in areas where we don’t have that equipment and knowledge has been absolutely invaluable.”

"I’m very confident, with the support that Ford and the guys have done here, that we’re not going to lose that edge we’ve had when we’ve brought new cars out. We’re going to be very competitive right from the first event" Malcolm Wilson

“M-Sport has always been very good at developing new cars and we expect the same with this case,” Rushbrook explains. “But with the new technology with hybrid, we are able to bring in some of our calibration engineers to help with the software strategy, and also aerodynamics and vehicle dynamics simulation are other areas we can contribute to the new car.”

Ford’s presence at the launch could be interpreted as it weighing up the possibility of returning as a fully blown manufacturer entry, as it was through M-Sport from 1999 to 2012. But such talk has been hosed down by both parties, with Rushbrook saying “certainly we have increased our support with the development of the new car and being as engaged as we are”.

The results from testing have been promising, leading to an air of confidence that the Puma will be competitive from the outset when the new-look WRC begins at the Monte Carlo Rally in January next year. Historically, too, M-Sport has reason to be confident. After all, it dominated when the current ruleset was introduced in 2017.

M-Sport's Ford Fiesta was the WRC car to beat in Ogier's hands in 2017

Photo by: McKlein / Motorsport Images

But it’s under no illusions about the task ahead, with plenty more tests – the latest on Finland’s high-speed gravel roads just last week – required to ensure the Puma is ready to tackle everything the WRC can throw at it.

“I’m very confident, with the support that Ford and the guys have done here, that we’re not going to lose that edge we’ve had when we’ve brought new cars out,” says Wilson. “I’m pretty confident that we’re going to be very competitive right from the first event.

“Honestly it reminds me very much of the 2017 car in a sense, but of course there’s the added excitement of the hybrid aspect, which has been a great new challenge for all the team here. Monte Carlo is definitely going to be a difficult challenge given the format. There’s no midday service, which will be a first, and Monte Carlo being Monte Carlo, it’s a very difficult rally, so that in itself is going to present a new challenge.”

Perhaps the most important contributing factor to the Puma’s performance on the stages will be who’s driving it. M-Sport is hoping to increase its current WRC attack from two to three entries, but is yet to formally confirm drivers for any of its vacant seats.

Hyundai duo Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak, and Toyota pair Elfyn Evans and Kalle Rovanpera, are set to remain at their current teams in 2022, while seven-time world champion Ogier is expected to stay with Toyota, albeit for a partial campaign. So the big names are off the shelf.

Talks have been held with several candidates, but the team has also stated that it would be happy to retain is current line-up of French rising star Adrien Fourmaux, Briton Gus Greensmith and Finn Suninen. Fourmaux is all but certain to stay given that the 26-year-old is highly rated in the WRC and has played a crucial role in the development of the Puma.

PLUS: The rookie WRC driver aiming to continue Loeb and Ogier's legacies

“I think at the end of the day it’s like any motorsport: the driver is still a vital ingredient and of course everybody knows basically all the top guys are staying where they are,” Wilson adds.

Fourmaux has done the bulk of development work and is expected to lead the line in 2022

Photo by: M-Sport

“So that makes it a little bit more difficult, but I do honestly feel we will still be able to present a strong case come the start of next year, just because I’m so impressed with everything that has been done. I’ve watched and analysed some of the testing and it gives me a lot confidence.

“The only one that is close to definite at the moment is Adrien. In an ideal world if we can get everything pulled together then we would like to try and run three cars, but I’m not in a position at the moment to say we have definitely got Adrien in place. The other ones will fall into line in the next couple of months.”

Driver line-up aside, when Ford throws its might behind a rally programme it rarely fails. Can it continue that with the Puma?

The Puma Rally1 WRC Prototype was put through its paces at Goodwood

Photo by: M-Sport