Rally - Swede Dreams

Rally Sweden marked an important milestone in the history of M-Sport, Ford Motor Company and the World Rally Championship.  

Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila’s winning performance at the weekend was the fiftieth victory in the Ford/M-Sport alliance.

It was way back in 1997 that M-Sport entered the World Rally Championship as the Ford Motor Company’s ‘works’ team and their first victory was on the 1997 Acropolis Rally with Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya in the Ford Escort Cosworth.

 

I know Malcolm Wilson’s not Scottish but, as a Cumbrian he’s the next best thing, and he employs quite a few of our lot down there in Dovenby Castle.

The only ‘real’ Scottish interest in Rally Sweden was Alister McRae in the Proton, but he’s obviously been spending too much time in Oz and has forgotten what snow is. It was his first time in five years on the WRC and the first time in 8 years that McRae had been in Sweden and he finished a lowly seventh in the SWRC event.

He clipped a snowbank on the first day which engulfed the Proton Satria Neo S2000 and it was stuck fast until the Swedish fans arrived in force and huckled it out smartly. He did it again on Day 2, again with no damage, but the time loss was crippling.