06.10.2021 – 08:45
Ford-Werke GmbH
cologne (ots)
- M-Sport Ford announces first driver duo working in the World Rally Championship season 2022: Craig Breen and Paul Nagel sign two-year contract
- For Craig Breen, things come full circle: The Irishman won the Junior World Championship in 2011 and the Super 2000 World Championship at the wheel of a Ford Fiesta a year later.
- Beginning of a new era in rally sport: From 2022, the first World Championships will be powered by modern plug-in hybrid powertrains and 100% sustainable fuels.
FIA World Rally New Era Mosaics Fit: With Craig Breen/Paul Nagle, M-Sport Ford has announced the first line-up of the newly developed Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1. The purely Irish co-driver team of Malcolm Wilson’s traditional team will start from the start of the 2022 season. It will be used for the first time from January 20-23 in the famous Monte Carlo Rally. The 31-year-old Brin and his partner, 43, have signed a two-year contract with M-Sport Ford and are looking forward to the full World Championship program for the first time in their careers. Last weekend, the duo once again proved their speed by claiming third place in the Finnish Rally World Championship.
The 2022 season will mark the dawn of a new era in the World Rally Championship. It features a new technical slate for this top-of-the-line motorsport class, henceforth called Rally1, which is based for the first time on turbocharged four-wheel drive vehicles with innovative hybrid engines and also provides the use of 100 percent renewable bio-energy. fuel. Developed by M-Sport and Ford, the Puma Hybrid Rally1 will replace the successful Fiesta World Rally Car (WRC), which has won three World Championship titles since 2017. The new contender is based on a space-tube chassis and combines a 1.6-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine. 400 hp with an integrated hybrid system that can temporarily provide up to 136 hp (100 kW) of additional power. Rally drivers benefit from the extra boost multiple times for each special stage for three seconds at a time. In addition, participants should cover the purely electrical conduction phases of the future. The World Rally Championship is thus taking an important step towards sustainability.
Craig Breen was already able to try out the new Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 on gravel on the M-Sport site in Cumbria, UK, and is excited about his new working machine. This will be followed by more detailed testing in Spain in October, and will also include asphalt extensions. For him, the promotion to the No. 1 driver of the works is complete: in 2009 the huge talent from Waterford won three championships in one season with the Irish, British and World Fiesta Cup. In 2010 he competed in the British and Irish Rally Championships with a Fiesta S2000 four-wheel drive car, taking his first overall win in the Ulster Rally and breathing first in Finland and the Wales Rally in Great Britain. In 2011, he participated in the so-called WRC Academy, the World Junior Championships today, with the Fiesta R2. As a reward for winning the title with race wins in Germany and Great Britain, he got a season behind the wheel of the Fiesta S2000 in the World Rally Championship the following year. Once again the Irish were celebrated as a hero. Since then, Brien has competed with several brands in the WRC League and has repeatedly pushed people to sit back and take notice when the podium finished – but so far there hasn’t been a complete World Cup campaign for him. He just now got a real chance to fight for the world championship title at the wheel of a Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1. Thus, he reached the highest rung of the “ladder of possibilities” in M-Sport.
“I’ve known Craig Breen for a long time, and his father was one of our clients,” says Malcolm Wilson, Managing Director of M-Sport. “I’ve followed Craig’s career for over ten years and seen him climb one step at a time at the wheel of our rally cars – we call this track the ‘ladder of opportunity.’ Especially this season he has caused quite a stir with some performance and a high level of consistency, which hasn’t abated. About us We have been in close contact for several months, so I am very pleased that we will be working with him over the next two years Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 We have developed an exciting new rally car. I have no doubt that both of them will celebrate great successes together.”
Richard Milner, Team Manager, M-Sport
“I’ve known Craig since he first sat in an M-Sport rally car. I’ve seen him coordinate these championships at the various Fiesta Sporting Awards – we often laugh at the fact that our careers are practical and that’s why I feel it’s such an honor to be able to struggle with him In order to get the best results in the next couple of years at the highest level.Looking forward to what may be the most exciting Rally era of all time, I am very sure Craig and his driving partner Paul Nagley are doing great for the team and can’t wait for the Monte Carlo Rally to start. In a few months. To make sporting and getting used to the Ford Puma Hybrid Rally1 as easy as possible. This is a very exciting time for all of us.”
Craig Breen (M-Sport Ford driver)
“I am very happy and also proud to be part of the M-Sport Ford team again with co-driver Paul Nagel! We have come a long and winding road in the World Rally Championship in which – just like an exciting special stage – sometimes up and sometimes down. But now we’ve come To our goal and we have the “Golden Ticket” in hand, because we can fight for the world title of one of the most successful brands in the sport. A relationship with Ford Since I had a special relationship at the beginning of my rally career: I won the World Junior Championships on the Fiesta R2 wheel and the Super 2000 World Championship with the Fiesta S2000. I love all aspects of rallying, especially the history. The mere idea that my name as a Ford driver now aligns with legends like Ari Vatanen, Hannu Mikkola, Colin McRae or Carlos Sainz seems almost surreal to me. I see this as a privilege. Freddy. As an Irishman, it means so much to me, as to be able to fly the Ford flag in the future. After all, Henry Ford’s father came from our “green island” before he immigrated to America. We’ve never forgotten that back home.”
Paul Nagel (Assistant Driver, M-Sport Ford)
“I’m really excited that we’re starting a new hybrid era of rallying with M-Sport Ford. In recent years I’ve had the privilege of working with so many teams at a world championship level – but it’s always been a secret that I hope to return to the Ford Motorsport family. Team M- Sport with a proud history and some of the best rally cars ever. I am sure he will be back again in 2022. Craig and I are hungry. We will do our best in the fight for the world title.”
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Ford-Werke GmbH
Ford-Werke GmbH is a German car manufacturer and mobility service provider based in Cologne. The company employs more than 20,000 people in Cologne, Saarlouis and Aachen. Since its founding in 1925, Ford’s factories have produced more than 47 million vehicles. More press information can be found at http://www.media.ford.com.
Media contact:
Esfred Hanin
Ford-Werke GmbH
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