January went by in a blur for one of Britain’s most influential motorsport figures: Malcolm Wilson, the founder and managing director of M-Sport.
He first had the Dakar Rally to attend, along with the rest of his team, as it operated Ford’s effort to win the famous desert raid; then the Monte Carlo Rally, where M-Sport was running a number of customer Ford Fiesta WRC2 cars.
Topping it all were his recently assumed responsibilities at the FIA. He was confirmed deputy president for sport in June 2025, with a specific brief from president Mohammed Ben Sulayem to return the World Rally Championship to the rudest of health.
The former British Rally Champion is planning significant changes to the sport he spent decades competing in as a team boss – some of them expected to be seen within months.
Here he briefs Autocar on what it’s like at the sharp end of motorsport governance; what exactly he’s working towards; and on the faith he has in his key allies.
The Dakar ended in narrow defeat for Ford and M-Sport. Were you satisfied with the outcome of it?
“I’m 100% happy with the performance of the cars and the team. We had the fastest stage and sector times. Sadly, a few navigational errors cost us the victory, so we finished second, third and fifth. But I don’t think you could attribute a second lost to either the cars or the team.
“Navigation on the event just seemed particularly difficult this time around, and maybe we paid a higher price for that than other teams. We also had a technical problem with Mitch Guthrie’s car, which was a great shame, given how competitively he was running.
“The really encouraging thing is that customer cars were consistently setting top-three stage times, which says a lot about the competitiveness of the car.”
What about the Monte? Was it the WRC season opener you had hoped for?
“I thought the event was great. But my focus now is very much on developing the sport – not so much where it is but where it can be.”
And where do you see that?
“We’re in the final stages of agreeing a deal with a new promoter and commercial rights holder, which will be huge for the sport: a big investment of capital and a new long-term vision.
“It has been a lot of work, but the new owner should be confirmed within the next two months.
“From a practical point of view, it should be quite a simple transaction when the switchover [from Red Bull/KW25] happens, with the new promoter taking over responsibilities directly, so we won’t have to wait until the end of the season.
“It won’t be like throwing a switch and you won’t see big changes in the sport immediately, but you will see really big ones over time. The bidder we prefer certainly has big, long-term plans for the sport, which we’re very keen to get behind and work as hard as possible to facilitate and to invest in at the FIA.”
How do you hope that the WRC will be different in 2027 and beyond?
