Why Ford must return to the WRC

When a world champion speaks, it's kind of rude not to listen. When a four-time world champion speaks, it's contemptible not to act on what he's saying. So, Ford, time to get yourself back into the World Rally Championship.

Sebastien Ogier says so.

Yes, yes, yes, we've all heard this line trotted out about you remaining part of the team as a technical partner and we see the big blue oval that hangs above the door to the M-Sport World Rally Team. But you're fooling nobody. And, as the world becomes increasingly aware of the position Ford holds in the WRC, the more this once great rallying superpower is increasingly seen as something of a charlatan.

In fact, in the words of one of my colleagues on the last WRC round in Germany, Ford is worse than a charlatan. He described it as a parasite, feeding off M-Sport's success.

Ouch. Strong words. But it's hard to find any strength of defence against them.

Hard that is, unless you are Malcolm Wilson.

It's utterly ironic that Ford's staunchest support still comes from the man who suffers the most from Dearborn's intransigence. Don't believe me? Watch the post-event press conference at Rally Germany and you'll see him wince as Ogier delivers another invitation to Ford to come to the party.

This is, of course, a drum Ogier has banged before. But it's a mark of his belief in the Cumbrians and the car they've single-handedly created that he really wants to stay and sees the sort of success in the future that marked his immediate past with Volkswagen.

"The 2017 WRC keeps on giving and giving in the best and most dramatic fashion possible. It's an epic that deserves to count Ford among its cast"

"To be honest," said Ogier, "M-Sport more than deserve to get Ford support. What we do is amazing, we are building a pretty good lead in the manufacturers' championship... I don't know if it's the first time ever in history, but it would probably be the first time a private team has done this.

"OK, we have some support from the brand behind us, but this is nothing compared to the other teams. It would be an amazing achievement [to win the world title] and it would be more than deserved that all this efforts gets a reward."

But what would Ford commitment mean?

"It would mean we could continue together from a strong base," says Ogier. "There are some areas we need to improve, but the base is good. I always mentioned that I want to stay here. It's never easy to change and switch teams every year.

"I have seen this year that you need to discover the car and working and meeting with new people is always taking some time. If I can continue to build on what we have done this year then we would be strong, but I also believe we need more support. But this is where I want to be."

Has there ever been more of a no-brainer in motorsport?

I honestly can't think of one. The cost of a WRC campaign falls comfortably within the fiscal demands of a single NASCAR team and what would Ford get in return?

Guaranteed success on a global platform with a car that resonates with the man on the street, largely because it still looks roughly like one on the driveway outside of his house. Except one that's been breathed on by NASA.

And let's look at the action: is there a better, more interesting, more intriguing series than the WRC this year? You know I'm biased, but there really isn't.

This is a championship that just keeps on giving and giving in the best and most dramatic fashion possible. It's an epic that deserves to count Ford among its cast.

The problem, and here's the rub for Wilson and his crew, is that there's zero incentive for Ford to actually shell out anything on rallying right now. In practical terms, why would it?

Looking from the outside, there are still more than a few who don't understand that it's M-Sport not Ford that is responsible for not only the car, but also Ogier's presence in that car.

The wider world remains content that Henry and his Ford is still doing the right thing and keeping its rally wheels turning. But history is repeating itself here, as Ford took the plaudits for Ari Vatanen's 1981 success, with a car run and financed by David Sutton.

There are doubtless those within Ford who would point to years of support for Wilson and his team since Essex looked north in 1997.

Granted, it took until 2006 for a world championship to be delivered - but that was still considerably less time than it had taken Boreham to recreate any kind of global glory. And, don't forget, two titles came in as many years from M-Sport.

There's no doubt Ford invested heavily in WRC in the late 1990s and early 2000s - as did Martini - but that investment dwindled and became significantly more diverse and complicated as the years passed.

By the time Ford walked at the end of 2012, the money being wired into Cockermouth was genuinely small change compared to the start of the adventure 15 years earlier.

Wilson worked tirelessly to build a business model reflecting the changing nature of that investment. Ford gave him one or two of the tools needed to build this business, but it's his hard work, personal investment and sheer bloody-minded, dogged determination that has really paid off.

And yes, M-Sport benefits from selling hundreds of Fiesta R2s, R5s and WRCs around the world - just like it still benefits from rebuild, preparation and parts sales - but the domestic, regional and global success those private cars generate can only be a very, very good thing for Ford.

And still it rides for free. And shows very little sign of either paying or being embarrassed by this position.

If Ogier's latest plea doesn't bring somebody worthwhile to the table, then I give up. Ford has the bragging rights to the fastest and most consistent car in this, rallying's most exciting and spectacular-ever era. And it has the best rally driver of a generation asking it for a small-change contribution to keep him in the hottest of seats to future-proof further success at rallying's highest level.

Unfortunately, that Rally Germany passed without anybody bothering to make the short trip south to Saarbrucken from Ford of Europe's Cologne base tells me we might be flogging a dead horse here.

But please, if there's any sense or sense of fairness and decency at executive level in the Ford offices, do the right thing and give a four-time world champion what he wants.