Ott Tanak was rarely 100% comfortable driving the M-Sport Ford Puma following his shock switch from Hyundai, but the 2019 world champion still scored two WRC wins.
The Puma wasn’t as heavily developed as its full factory Toyota and Hyundai rivals, but in Tanak’s hands it showed flashes of pace to beat the WRC works teams to victories in Sweden and Chile.
Tanak mustered 30 stage wins and four podiums, but his title tilt was derailed by a series of issues: Mexico (turbo), Sardinia (electrical), Estonia (engine), Finland (engine) and Greece (water pump).
A combination of driver skill and an inspired team tyre call produced the highlight in Chile dominance.
Why M-Sport and Tanak were unable to deliver a WRC fairytale
Ott Tanak reuniting with M-Sport was the move the rally world wanted to spice up the 2023 WRC title as it ensured Toyota, Hyundai and M-Sport all had rally winners in their ranks. The partnership which boasted plenty of potential on paper was ultimately unable to deliver a sustained title fight, but it was not for the want of trying from both Tanak and M-Sport.
The season started brightly, headlined by Tanak scoring the Puma’s second WRC win at Rally Sweden that lifted him to the top of the standings, but afterwards his season began to unravel through a series of misfortunes. His strong end to the year came too late.
“It is a case of what could have been,” M-Sport team principal Richard Millener explains. “We signed Ott to try and win the world championship, which didn’t work, but it is not easy to win championships against the others.
“We gave it our best shot, but unfortunately it wasn’t going to be a fairytale story. I think overall there have been a lot of positives, as the car has been fast on our surfaces.
"The guys have worked very hard all year to try and find set-ups and solutions that worked for him, but we didn’t get to where we want to be" Richard Millener
“Ott has been comfortable in some scenarios and others he still doesn’t feel quite right. It is very difficult to do too much as the rules and regulations are so tight and you have limited jokers and small areas of the car that you can constantly tweak.”
M-Sport focused much of its development on dampers, a decision led by Tanak. While the car showed speed on all surfaces, consistency and component failures contributed to a frustrating season that ended with Tanak opting to return to Hyundai for 2024.
“All I can say is the guys have worked very hard all year to try and find set-ups and solutions that worked for him, but we didn’t get to where we want to be,” Millener added. “At certain rallies and surfaces he felt comfortable, and he was very fast, so there is potential in the car, so overall we are in a good place.
“These top drivers have varying feedback across all rallies, so it's very difficult to make a perfect car for everywhere. But we tried our best with everything we can do. Some of what we did certainly helped go towards the victories we achieved.”
