Stobart Motorsport is slowly going the way of the Japanese Subaru outfit and is becoming somewhat of a regular sighting on the rally circuit. A relatively young team, started only a couple of years back in 2006, the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team is based out of Cumbria, England. The team's main role has been to develop talent for the mainstream Ford banner. Under the guidance of M-Sport owner and Team Principal Malcolm Wilson, the team has a host of wonderful drivers behind it's wheel that include Gigi Galli, Mathew Wilson, Henning Solberg and Francois Duval.

The team runs a decked up version of the Ford Focus WRC2007 and has the capability to upset some of the front-runners in 2008.

In 2006, the Stobart team made it's debut with Mathew Wilson, Luis-Perez Companc, Kosti Katajamaki and Jari-Matti Latvala behind it's wheel. The team had an impressive first season and logged 44 points in the manufacturers' title race. On it's way, it beat the more experienced drivers of the Red Bull Skoda team and took the 5th spot in it's debut season.

Wilson stayed on for the next season, along with Latvala and the team added Henning Solberg to its ranks, a definite contender for the WRC Championship. The team was expected to put in another solid performance in 2007 and although they didn't have any championship expectations, their performances definitely made other teams stand up and take notice.

The team scored points on each and every event in 2007 and Henning Solberg proved his mettle in just the third race of the season as he stepped onto the podium in his home rally of Norway. Norway also saw Latvala come in at fifth place, giving the team 10 manufacturers' points, their most for a single race, in 2007.

Latvala's race lead in Rally d'Italia Sardinia, in Rally Japan and in his home event of Rally Finland, saw the teams performances shoot up. By the penultimate round of the season, their consistent finishing record had ensured a third placed finish for the Stobart team, into just their second year of Rallying, ahead of the Subaru Factory Outfit. The last round saw them fall into fourth as Subaru did overtake them, but the team had proven their ability to take on the big wigs without fear.

Latavala has been promoted to the BP-Ford Abu Dhabi team for the 2008 season and it will be Henning Solberg and Mathew Wilson, who will be joined by Gigi Galli, to lead the charge for the Cumbria based team. The team has an upgraded car from the 06 version that they had used in 2007. So things can only get better for them as they look to some more giant-killing deads in 2008.

Galli has been nominated as the points scorer for the entire season while in the first round at Monte Carlo, Francois Duval, in the fourth Stobart, will be the second scorer. The team will choose their nominations as and when each event kicks off, after their first really. With a new car and strong drivers leading the charge, the light on the horizon is getting brighter for this hand-me-down outfit from Ford.