Nasser Al-Attiyah has confirmed that he is seeking to secure a deal with M-Sport to run a three-car Ford team in the 2013
World Rally Championship.
M-Sport has been left seeking backing for the new season following the announcement that
Ford is to quit the WRC at the end of the season.
Al-Attiyah was linked with the team from the moment the announcement was made and has now confirmed that he is hoping to agree a deal with M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson to run the team under the Qatar M-Sport
World Rally Team banner.
The Qatari driver has driven a
Citroen DS3 WRC during his 2012 campaign.
“Malcolm [Wilson] is coming and we will discuss things with him for next year,” he told
World Rally Radio's Colin Clark. “For me it is important to keep going in the WRC. I have run with Ford in the past and will do here and I think we will find a good solution for next year to help the team come back. Everyone knows that Ford has pulled out of M-Sport as a manufacturer team and it would be nice to be involved with M-Sport.
“It will be three cars if we are able to do a deal. That is our target. We wait to discuss with Malcolm and see how its goes.”
Al-Attiytah was talking ahead of the Cyprus Rally, which he will contest in a Ford Fiesta RRC.
Any deal with M-Sport could help the team retain the services of
Petter Solberg for the new season, although Solberg's current Ford current team-mate
Jari-Matti Latvala has already announced he will switch to Volkswagen for 2013.