M-Sport was founded in 1997 by Malcolm Wilson, a British rally driver who took it upon himself to set up his own FIA World Rally Championship outfit from his home in the Lake District in the north-west of England. The company went from strength to strength, working with the some of the sport’s icons, including Colin McRae, Carlos Sainz, Petter Solberg, Jari-Matti Latvala, Ott Tänak and Sébastien Ogier.
 
Based on the edge of the UNESCO English Lake District National Park, M-Sport has established itself as a team that goes above and beyond to support and nurture young rally talent from grassroots to greatness. This commitment to the next generation of rallying is what convinced FIA Rally Star that M-Sport is the perfect rally car partner for the preparation phase of the programme.
 
M-Sport has a great deal of knowledge and experience of working with emerging talent thanks to its Krakow based operation, M-Sport Poland. M-Sport Poland organised and operated FIA Junior WRC from 2011 to 2013 with notable graduates including Craig Breen, Elfyn Evans and Pontus Tidemand. The company has been performing the same role in FIA Junior WRC in recent years too. Knowledge of this championship is key to understanding and determining a development path for those selected through the FIA Rally Star’s worldwide detection programme.
 
Yves Matton, FIA Rally Director: “To have M-Sport join FIA Rally Star as rally car partner is a great moment for the programme, which fills me with confidence. When you look at the drivers that have won a WRC event in 2020, every single one of them has been in an M-Sport car at some point in their careers. M-Sport is very proud to support young and upcoming talent and stated their interest in the FIA Rally Star project when it was still just a concept. Their ‘Ladder of Opportunity’ is in perfect synchronisation with the FIA ‘Rally Car Pyramid’, which already shows that this partnership has the potential to deliver long-lasting results.”
 
Malcolm Wilson, founder of M-Sport: “We have been very interested in the FIA Rally Star programme for quite a while now. It is a fantastic initiative that the FIA should be very proud of and which really resonates with M-Sport’s fundamental values. We pride ourselves on supporting young drivers and we are constantly looking at innovative ways to seek out the brightest future stars of rallying. Our ‘Ladder of Opportunity’ mirrors the FIA Rally Car Pyramid now and we are the only manufacturer to have a car available on every tier. The preparation year that selected FIA Rally Star drivers will embark upon will need to be accessible. We could have a driver that has never set foot in a rally car before. We are perfectly placed for this our range starts with the entry-level Fiesta Rally5 which is great for somebody learning the basics of rallying and finishes with the WRC-level Fiesta Rally1.”