An important piece of the 2022 WRC driver market puzzle looks set to be solved in the next week, with M-Sport to announced next year’s line-up.
After a brilliant drive to third place at Rally Finland – his third podium in a row – Irishman Craig Breen is expected to sign a two-year deal with M-Sport Ford.
The Irish media have already reported the story, along with news that Adrien Fourmaux and Gus Greensmith will form part of the three-car squad for next year.
Breen’s deal is well deserved, and will be his first full-time drive since he departed Citroen at the end of the 2018 season.
Since then he’s been a part-timer at Hyundai, but the two-year re-signing of Thierry Neuville and Ott Tanak earlier this year has put paid to his chances of a full-time gig with the Korean make.
While he’s yet to win an event in the WRC, it’s clear that this is only a matter of time, and with Ford’s new hybrid Puma at his disposal next season, it appears we haven’t seen the best of Breen yet.
Some of the sport’s other gun drivers failed to fire a shot in Finland though.
Pre-event favourite, Kalle Rovanpera, crashed out on day two, as did his Japanese team-mate, Takamoto Katsuta, while Breen’s expected Hyundai replacement, Oliver Solberg, went home with his tail between his legs.
Touted as one of the next big things, Solberg crashed his Hyundai i20 Rally2 spectacularly and has now retired from six of his eight WRC events this year.
At the head of the field, Welshman Elfyn Evans drove the rally of career to outlast Tanak and Breen in a fight that did the ‘Finnish Grand Prix’ proud.
The 2022 New Zealand Rally calendar has already had a shake-up, with November’s Battle of Jack’s Ridge pushed back until February.
The change in date was made due to the uncertainty over travel within New Zealand, and it has also meant that Hayden Paddon’s Ben Nevis event has been forced to move as well.
The Golden 1200 Hillclimb will now run on the first weekend in March, ensuring that the start of the year will be jam packed with motorsport action for competitors and rally fans.
Meanwhile, the continuation of those restrictions has also forced the cancellation of the final round of the NZRC, the Rally Bay of Plenty.
“While we can run at Alert Level 2 a significant portion of our competitors would be unable to compete, the majority of our organising team are based in Auckland and wouldn’t be able to get to the event, while our chief scrutineer is also Auckland-based,” series co-ordinator Blair Bartels said.
“It is a massive shame as we were all looking forward to getting on those terrific Bay of Plenty roads and returning that event to the national championship.”
For now, national title aspirants will need to regroup and build towards next season, beginning at the Otago Rally in early April.
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