M-Sport to Run Four Cars in WRC

M-Sport has announced that they will run cars for Mads Ostberg, Nasser Al Attiyah, Evgeniy Novikov and Thierry Neuville in the 2013 FIA World Rally Championship. Whereas Ostberg was already confirmed with a 13 round programme, and AlAttiyah for events which do not clash with his other motorsport commitments, the new story is that Novikov and Neuville are also to compete on all 13 rounds.  Incomplete details however heighten suspicions that M-Sport or Ford are not necessarily expecting to register for the championship series.  

Nearly three weeks ago, M-Sport announced that Ostberg would be the nominated points scorer for the Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team, inferring that there would be a registered Manufacturer team from Ford, but without explaining how this would fit into the FIA’s championship rules. There are growing worries that the only Manufacturer teams in the 2013 WRC will come from Citroen and VW.