Welcome to the Malcolm Wilson Rally and Cockermouth, the home town of M-Sport Ltd. I am delighted that I am again the sponsor of the event, and that I have surpassed Lombard who sponsored the RAC Rally for 19 years. This must be the longest sponsorship arrangement in motorsport! I have just instructed Greystoke to be regraded to ensure that it will be in tip top condition for the event. We are delighted that Ford have renewed their contract with us to design, build and run the Ford Fiesta RS WRC in the World Rally Championship for the next two years. Ford’s faith in M-Sport is much appreciated and we look forward to competing against a growing band of manufacturers, who will make WRC even more exciting.

Preparation for 2012 World Rally Championship has already commenced; we welcome back Petter Solberg to the Ford stable, and he and Jari-Matti Latvala are determined to start the year running and challenge for the WRC drivers and manufacturers title. It is hoped to repeat our remarkable, record breaking result on the Wales Rally GB in November 2011 where we had eight finishers in the top ten.
The WRC Academy has proved to be an extremely popular class, where all the drivers have identical Ford Fiesta R2’s, with the competition going right down to the last stage of the last event of the year. Not only does this series provide a platform for the young drivers to showcase their driving skills and promise for their WRC futures, it provides a scenario for M-Sport to work with Myerscough College, training new motorsport technicians.

Recently debuted cars are the Ford Fiesta R1 and MS1 which can be developed in stages to a full blown R2. This enables competitors to develop their cars in line with their available budget with the knowledge that the technology is based on the highly successful Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

I shall be looking at your results and hope that you all have a great day of competition in the fantastic scenery of the Lake District.
 
Malcolm