We’ve all been wondering, in the wake of its shocking withdrawal from the World Rally Championship, what would happen to all the satellites revolving around Volkswagen’s nucleus. What would become of its world-champion driver Sébastien Ogier, and where would its high-profile sponsor Red Bull go next?
We got at least part of our answer when Ogier signed with M-Sport – apparently taking Red Bull along with him. And now we’re looking at the embodiment of that shift as the team has revealed the racing liveries for its new Ford Fiesta WRC, complete (in Ogier’s case) with that unmistakable Red Bull livery.
M-Sport, for those unacquainted, is an independent racing team that has enjoyed close collaboration with some major automakers. It developed and campaigns the Continental GT3 for Bentley. It also ran Ford’s WRC effort until Dearborn pulled the plug in 2012, but still represents on the Blue Oval on the rally circuit on an independent basis, developing the new Fiesta on its own (albeit not without a measure of factory support).
The team revealed its new rally machine, body-in-white, earlier this month, based on the new road-going Fiesta. Now it is preparing to showcase its two cars in their full racing livery at the Autosport International show, giving us this advance look.
Ogier’s car (which he will share once again with co-pilot Julien Ingrassia) sports the Red Bull livery that adorned their VW Polo. The second car shared by Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja adopts a geometric design similar to the camouflage which M-Sport put on the car while it was undergoing development.
With Volkswagen, Ogier won the past four consecutive championships. Ford has won three, in 1979, 2006, and 2007. Red Bull, for its part, has adorned the championship-winning cars for the past nine years straight – dating back to the Citroën C4 WRC with which Sébastien Loeb won the title in 2008.
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