Former Australian and European Ladies Champion, and current Extreme E driver Molly Taylor will return to the World Rally Championship on three gravel rounds behind the wheel of a new Ford Fiesta Rally3 in 2021.
Starting with next month’s Rally Estonia, Taylor will also tackle September’s Acropolis Rally Greece, before signing off her trio of events on the fast and flowing Rally Finland in October.
The Fiesta Rally3 is the latest creation from M-Sport’s European base in Poland and completes M-Sport’s Ladder of Opportunity which offers a car at every level in international rallying from Rally5 to Rally1.
The Fiesta Rally3 is the first car of its spec to be given the green light for international competition and will be aimed at the Rally3 tier of the FIA’s new five tier progression pyramid. It will offer young drivers a step up from two-wheel drive to four, and will be the main basis of WRC3 in 2022.
Taylor has a history with M-Sport vehicles going back ten years, having made her debut in the WRC Academy back in 2011 with a Fiesta R2. She will also reunite with her co-driver from the same period, with Seb Marshall calling the notes for the three events.
An excited Taylor said: “We’re getting the band back together! I’m really excited to have this opportunity and get back to some of my favourite WRC events in Finland, Estonia, and the Acropolis, which has always been on the bucket list.
“We’ve been working towards this programme for a while, so it seems like it’s been in the distance for so long. You don’t want to get too excited, because you’re always trying to put programmes together, and it’s often that nothing happens. Then it all started to come together, and it looked like it was finally happening.
“Now it’s coming around really soon, so it’s pretty surreal. It’s exciting to be a part of the beginning of the [Rally3] category and I think, from everything that I see, it looks like a really good package, so I’m really excited to give it a go,” she continued.
“When this opportunity with the new Rally3 car came up, I think it was a combination of all the little things that just fell into the right place, and so when the opportunity arose, it was possible to jump at it. I always wanted to get back into the WRC. I feel like it’s been many years of trying to get to an opportunity like this – that I was trying for back in 2012 – but I’ll take it now!”
Taylor remains the only female to of won a stage in the WRC Academy, which is now known as the FIA Junior World Rally Championship. Her professionalism and motivation have impressed M-Sport Ford Team boss Richard Millener, who can’t wait to see what she can do in the new vehicle. He said:
“We have been working very hard with Molly and various partners for a good few months now and this is a result of a unique collaboration from some of rallying’s key partners. Molly is talented, you only need to look at her recent results in Extreme E to understand that, especially when you look at the competition she is facing in that series.
“Where Molly really stands out though is her character, she is competitive, very motivated and a true professional. When she sets her mind to doing something you can be rest assured she leaves no stone unturned in her preparation and is just a pleasure to work with. She is exactly the kind of driver M-Sport likes to work with.
“I think it speaks volumes for the Rally3 category and the Fiesta Rally3 that a driver like Molly wants to be part of this category from the very beginning. The three different rallies we have targeted are by no means easy either, with each one presenting their own unique challenges. I’m interested to see how both Molly and the Fiesta Rally3 fare on all three rounds.”
Molly’s first event will be on seventh round on the WRC, Rally Estonia, running from 16 – 18 July 2021.
