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WRC Flashback: When Greece started a World Rally Championship success story
Acropolis Rally Greece will forever be a rally etched in the history of World Rally Championship team M-Sport-Ford, as this month marks 28 years since it scored its first WRC win.
The British squad remains a loyal WRC stalwart scoring 64 wins, all with Ford machinery, on a journey that has included clinching back-to back manufacturers’ titles in 2006-2007, followed a by a third title in 2017, and a pair of drivers’ titles for Sebastien Ogier in 2017 and 2018.
But M-Sport can trace the start of its success back to Greece in 1997 when it climbed the WRC summit for the first time. The year marked the start of M-Sport’s factory relationship with Ford as the Cumbrian squad took over the running of the blue oval’s WRC programme.
As it often the case when the going gets tough in rallies, M-Sport is the team standing on the top step of the podium. The Acropolis Rally is proof of the operation’s ability to conquer the toughest of conditions, having recorded more wins than any other team in the event’s storied history.
However, it is perhaps the first of M-Sport’s eight Acropolis wins (1997, 2000-2003, 2006-2007 and 2009) that is the most important.
The 1997 season marked a new era for the WRC as it welcomed in new technical regulations, following the end of the Group A era. M-Sport’s start to life running Ford’s factory WRC squad began in a positive fashion thanks to Carlos Sainz scoring back-to back second place finishes in Monte Carlo and Sweden.
M-Sport Ford
However, M-Sport’s Ford Escorts were unfancied heading into that year’s Acropolis Rally, having struggled in the rough conditions against the likes of Subaru and Mitsubishi in Kenya.
But M-Sport had learned its hard lesson from Africa, and while it wasn’t plain sailing, its pair of Repsol-liveried Escorts driven by Sainz and Juha Kankkunen, the latter competing in his first rally for the team, netted a memorable one-two.
Subaru’s Colin McRae (broken steering column] and Kenneth Eriksson [roll] hit trouble early on as the brutal nature of the Acropolis’ roads hit hard. Then world champion Tommi Makinen and his Mitsubishi team-mate Richard Burns also suffered a crash and mechanical issues respectively. The duo would recover to finish third and fourth.
This left Kankkunen out front while Sainz recovered from losing 1m30s to a broken exhaust and shock absorber on the opening day.
Sainz clawed his way to within 37sec of leader Kankkunen after clocking fastest times on six of Saturday’s seven stages. Sainz eventually took the win by 17s, overhauling team-mate Kankkunen, who was told by the team to preserve the car.
“Now I think we are back in the championship. The result proves many things and boost for the whole team, said Sainz at the time, before going on to finish the season in third, 12 points behind eventual world champion Mitsubishi’s Tommi Makinen.
“I’m totally delighted for the team and everybody. When people know what effort had gone in to get this team this far, it is tremendous amount of satisfaction. There is a lot of emotion now,” said M-Sport team owner Malcolm Wilson clearly overjoyed by his squad’s first success.
M-Sport didn’t have to wait long for its second win as Sainz led Kankkunen home for another one-two at Rally Indonesia three months later. And as they say the rest is history as M-Sport went on become one of the WRC’s most successful teams across the last 30 years.
Fast forward to today and the squad is no long running a factory Ford programme but has continued its association with the American brand. This weekend it will field four Ford Pumas for Josh McErlean, Gregoire Munster, Martins Sesks and Jordan Serderidis to contest the 2025 edition of Acropolis Rally Greece.
M-Sport may not be in a position to add to their eight victories in Greece, this weekend but is once again ready to display its Acropolis nous.
“Acropolis Rally Greece is undeniably one of the toughest events we see in this championship, and I suspect it will bring its fair share of challenges! We are due to see some pretty scorching temperatures and the stage conditions are due to be as rough as ever,” said M-Sport team principal Richard Millener.
“Both Grégoire and Josh had a difficult Rally Sardinia, so the focus in Greece is to have a clean run and avoid trouble to bring home a solid result.
“Martiņs will be making his Greece debut and will no-doubt be looking to his teammates for some guidance on navigating this tricky event. It’ll be nice to have Jourdan back with us again on his home event where he can hopefully add another strong finish to his roster.
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