Factory M-Sport WRC2 driver Adrien Fourmaux has signed up for this year’s British Rally Championship, driving a Ford Fiesta Rally2.
The front-running Frenchman will go head-to-head with the regular BRC protagonists at the opening round of the season, The Malcolm Wilson Rally, which is aptly based at the world rally team’s headquarters at Dovenby Hall in Cumbria.
In a bid to gain additional seat time and continue the development of the M-Sport Fiesta, Fourmaux and co-driver Alexandre Coria will tackle the opener, just days before heading to Mexico for the next World Rally Championship round in his 2023 programme.
Whilst it won’t be the first time he has contested the rally, having won the event back in 2020, he is remaining open-minded about the prospect of battling with the BRC contenders.
“Honestly, I don’t really know [what to expect]” he says.
“I think we will have a very high level of competition, it’s always interesting to fight in a national championship. I’m expecting a nice rally on the Malcolm Wilson, there are some great rallies in Great Britain with some epic scenery and great roads. It’s a good opportunity to support the WRC2 fight this year.”
Fourmaux took fifth in the WRC2 category at the legendary Rallye Monte Carlo in January but is eager for a return to the gravel.
“I’m hoping to see similar stages to the ones we had in 2020 when I won the rally. It’ll be nice to be back in the Rally2 on gravel, the last time was March last year, and it’s always good to drive some stages in the UK! It’ll be nice to compete against some of the British drivers, and I hope to be able to get a good result and claim the win again.”
The one-day gravel event is set to take crews into some of the trickiest stages in the UK, with Grizedale Forest famed to have caught out some of the best drivers in the world over the decades. Now, a new generation of BRC drivers will line up to do battle over some classic English tests, but the experienced 27-year-old will be looking further down the road than just Cockermouth next weekend.
“My approach will certainly be a bit different because I want to prepare for Mexico. Of course, it’s not the same conditions, but it’s some very important seat time and if I want to do well in the WRC2 Championship, then I need to do well on the Malcolm Wilson Rally too. It’s not really representative of Mexico, so the goal will be to fight for a good result without taking too many risks, and to preserve our confidence for Mexico.”
Image courtesy: Red Bull Content Pool
