M-Sport Announce 2018 Driver Line-up

Yesterday (28th November) an official announcement from M-Sport informed us of their driver lineup for the 2018 WRC season.

After much speculation as to whether he would retire, Sébastien Ogier will stay at the Cumbrian based team for next year along side young welshman Elfyn Evans, who takes the second seat.

The five time world champion will stay at the British team for at least another seaon.

“I still get a lot of emotion from this sport…” Ogier told the WRC Promoter. “And this team has so much passion… That made my decision clear, and we will work hard to chase more success next year.” After taking his fifth world championship on the shores of Llyn Brenig there was a clear show of emotion from the frenchman, many believed that the tears were ‘Good bye’ tears. Ogier himself said that he was thinking of staying at home next year with his wife and son, Tim. That said, Sébastien is a brilliant asset to our sport from his true sportsmanship to his driving excellence, had he retired, the World Rally Championship would have lost a truly great man and driver.

Elfyn Evans provided us with one of the most emotional moments the sport has seen earlier this year. After leading Wales Rally GB since the start, the stop line of the final stage was surrounded by hundreds of fans waiting for their new hero. There was a different type of feeling on Sunday’s stages with the home fans knowing that they were witnessing a local driver taking his maiden WRC win on home stages. On the announcement of the team, Evans said “We are ready to take the next step and I think we all have another exciting season ahead of us.”

The young welshman will take the second seat at M-Sport after some strong finishes in the 2017 season.

M-Sport is expected to announce details of a third driver in the next few weeks.

The 2018 season starts with Rallye Monte Carlo on 25th January with the traditional season-opening Thursday night stages in which the crews battle through the darkness along icy Alpine passes above the Principality.

Words and Images by Jack Lancelott.