M-Sport determined to hang on to Thierry Neuville
M-Sport will fight to keep Thierry Neuville in its World Rally Championship line-up next season, despite interest in the Belgian from Citroen and Hyundai
In his second full year in the WRC, the 25-year-old currently shares second place in the standings with factory Volkswagen driver Jari-Matti Latvala.
Neuville insists he wants to stay with the British team next season and the news that title sponsor Qatar is ready to commit further backing to M-Sport's 2014 programme means he is likely to drive a Fiesta RS WRC.
"I didn't talk to anybody [else]," said Neuville. "I am very happy with M-Sport and I have a lot to focus on for the rest of this season. The Fiesta is a beautiful car to drive, I'm really enjoying myself."
Nasser Al-Attiyah, the architect of the Qatar deal, wants to see Neuville and Mads Ostberg staying in the works Fiestas.
"They are both very good drivers and we want to keep them," said Al-Attiyah. "In Finland, they both did really well, with Thierry making an incredible drive to finish second."
Talking about the future with M-Sport, Al-Attiyah said: "I have been absolutely very happy with everything from Malcolm and M-sport this year. And this is why I want to sit down and have this discussion in Germany.
"We will try to fix everything in Germany, it's much better to get everything done early and have everything in place for 2014.
"We want to carry on in the same way that we have this year."
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About this article
| Series | WRC |
| Drivers | Thierry Neuville |
| Teams | M-Sport |
| Author | David Evans |
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