Adrien Fourmaux and Alex Coria had a difficult event, but fought back strongly on Sunday to take their best-ever finish on Super Sunday in third place in their Ford Puma Rally1.
The Central European Rally was a new logistical challenge for the teams, seeing a number of busy days of team and crew movements to and from the Czech Republic for Thursday’s shakedown, ceremonial start and opening two stages.
The two tests on Thursday would see Fourmaux start strongly, sixth overall and only 2.4 seconds off the lead. With no service available until Friday night, the start of the event was set to be a challenge, but it would become even trickier with both crews encountering hybrid issues. The midday remote service would give the crews a chance to tweak setups for the tricky damp conditions before heading back to Germany, but with no way to fix the hybrid, both drivers were forced to nurture the issue for the remainder of the day. The pair finished seventh and eighth at the end of what had been a long loop with no real team assistance.
Saturday was the chance to reset, with new chassis setups dialed in for both crews. However, to add to the mix of the challenge ahead, the weather was unexpectedly foggy and wet, making the stages even more treacherous for the top crews.
Sadly, Fourmaux realised straight away there was an issue with the car differentials. Making it almost impossible to predict what the car might do next, he would slide off into a field on the first stage, and on the second test of the day would hit a wall causing considerable damage to the hybrid and exhaust systems, sadly causing his retirement for the day.
Resetting again for Super Sunday, Fourmaux’s goal quickly turned to maximising the opportunity to take home some crucial points. On a big push from the outset, Fourmaux would win the days’ opening stage with a margin of 2.2 seconds, and sit fighting amongst the top crews in the lead up to the Power Stage. Now able to once again show his pace and persistence, Fourmaux would take one point after coming fifth in the Power Stage, adding to the five points awarded to him for finishing third in the Sunday standings. Despite a challenging start to the weekend, Fourmaux would finish with a reminder of his pace and tenacity on an otherwise tough event.
Munster was also able to finish on a positive note, maintaining a consistent and clever drive throughout Saturday and Sunday to gain positions steadily, meaning he would inherit fifth overall on Sunday morning and adding another six points to the four he picked up on Saturday. Now matching his career-best result, which he achieved in Sardinia earlier this year, Munster would demonstrate his learning throughout the season with an intelligent drive on the penultimate round and mark his highest points finish on a WRC event to date.
Jourdan Serderidis and Frédéric Miclotte completed their first full-Tarmac WRC event in the Ford Puma Rally1 with the non-hybrid edition of the car. Meeting Serderidis’ goal for the weekend by finishing 20th overall, the Greek becomes the second driver to compete a non-hybrid Puma at the sport’s top level.
In the WRC2 category, William Creighton and Liam Regan had another positive weekend on their debut on Central European Rally. Showing good pace throughout and setting consistent top-ten times in their Fiesta Rally2, with only a puncture on Friday to mar their overall position, they enjoyed a clean and stress-free weekend.
Finishing ninth in WRC2, the Irish pairing claimed two points and marked their second points-scoring event of the season, ending their part-time campaign on a strong note after a season of development and learning.
Richard Millener, M-Sport Team Principal, said:
“This was a bit of a tricky weekend and from a quick look at the results could be seen as not our strongest, but in reality there were a number of strong positives. Greg picked up a repeat of his best performance this year, but also scored himself the most points in one event this year, and Adrien recovered on Sunday to show he has the pace on Tarmac by finishing in his highest position on Super Sunday.
“The rally was really tricky for the team, with lots of logistical movements, but as expected they dealt with all of the extra complications with maximum efficiency and did a fantastic job all round. Congratulations also to the event organizers who managed to bring a World Rally Championship event to three countries in three days, this is quite an achievement!
“We now have one final event of the year to look forward to, and I am confident we can go out on a high this year in Japan.”
Grégoire Munster, fifth overall, said:
“A tricky weekend with the weather conditions, and the different types of stages, but all in all we didn’t do too badly. We improved the set-up of the car in different conditions and we worked a lot towards Japan as well, so it’s all positive things. A top-five result at the end, which equals our top-five result in Sardinia, makes it quite a positive weekend overall.”
William Creighton, 16th overall, ninth WRC2, said:
"A tricky rally, so I’m glad we didn’t have any major issues and have gained the experience. It’s been amazing to compete in my first WRC2 season, I have learnt a lot! Thank you to the MI Rally Academy, M-Sport and everyone else for making it possible."
Jourdan Serderidis, 20th overall, said:
“We went to CER on an impulse. Very limited preparation, no hybrid… we hoped for a cool weekend and a Top 20 finish. Actually it was not exactly cool, especially in technique, but we enjoyed a lot Saturday and Sunday. And we achieved the target. Fantastic ambiance inside the team. It will be full of good memories…!”
Adrien Fourmaux, 32nd overall, said:
“Just a difficult Friday and Saturday with some technical issues, it’s not the result we would expect after winning the rally last year in the RC2 category. The good point is that after we fixed the car on Saturday evening, we clinched the first fastest time of the day and third overall on Super Sunday, with one extra point for the Power Stage. So at least we showed some good pace on the Sunday.”
