WRC title-winning rally boss Malcolm Wilson says he expects the level of competition to be even higher as his team defends its drivers’ and teams’ titles in 2018.
The M-Sport boss pointed out that driver changes late on in 2017 and during the closed season were indicators of just how competitive he expects 2018 to be.
"There’s going to be serious competition, there’s no question about that," said Wilson. "Every manufacturer is going to be challenging to take that crown away from us. Hyundai has strengthened its line-up with Andreas Mikkelsen. Kris Meeke is very, very quick at Citroën when things are right and we’ve lost one of our drivers – Ott Tänak – to Toyota and we know how quick he is.
"But we have some really tight tech regs which should stop any team making a massive step. Sure, they’ll find small things here and there. I’m confident that our team will step up to this challenge, but it’s going to be a very big ask to retain both titles."
Although 2017 was one of the sport’s most competitive seasons ever, Wilson expects 2018 to surpass it.
"I’ll bet that the championship will go down to the wire next year," Wilson added. "And this can only be good for the sport.
"I’ve been in this for 20 years and before that I was driving and not since Group B have we seen such levels of popularity. In Britain we have a McRae / Burns impact again with Elfyn and Craig Breen. It’s all positive. But I know that we won’t win next year by the same margin. It’ll be tough but we’ll be fighting."
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