Malcolm Irving Wilson, OBE (born 17 February 1956) is a British former rally driver, founder of M-Sport, and incumbent Deputy President for Sport at the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). He is the father of former World Rally Championship driver Matthew Wilson and is married to Elaine Wilson, whom he met in 1979.

Biography

Early life Wilson was raised in Workington, Cumbria, where he spent time at his parents' car breaking business. He acknowledges that meeting customers who were rally drivers introduced him to the sport. His father Ken Wilson has also a rally driving career, the earliest recorded starts being in 1973, one year before Malcolm's first start at age 18 in 1974. In 1979, whilst buying a rally car Wilson met his future wife, Elaine, who was the seller's daughter.

Rally driver career Wilson's career began in 1974 driving Ford Escorts in events mainly located in the north of England. In 1976, rallies in the significant British championships were being contested before in 1978, he won the Castrol/Autosport UK National Championship, a series seen as one level below the RAC British Open Championship and being restricted to British nationals only. Wilson repeated the title feat in 1979, winning five of the eight events on the calendar.

Wilson crashed during the 1980 Scottish Rally whilst chasing Hannu Mikkola and Ari Vatanen for the lead, breaking both his ankles and almost ending his career, but he recovered in time for the RAC Rally at the end of the year.

In the 1980s, Wilson gained more experience on international rallies outside the United Kingdom and using the four-wheel drive Audi Quattro cars within, driving for Audi Sport UK on some events whilst remaining loyal to Ford on others. In 1986, he drove for Austin Rover WRT, in whose Group B MG Metro 6R4 he shared driving duties with fellow Briton, Tony Pond. He only finished two of the six World Rally Championship rounds started, and MG finished 8th in the manufacturer's championship. The banning of Group B in the WRC after that year led to the withdrawal of Austin Rover and other manufacturers, and Wilson's rallies remained in the UK for some years after.

In 1989, Wilson drove for Vauxhall/General Motors in the UK and selected WRC rounds. He finished third at that years Rally of New Zealand, one of his best result in the series matched only by another third in 1993 RAC Rally of Great Britain.

In 1990, Wilson began to drive Sierra Cosworths for a Ford team with Nicky Grist co-driving, mostly at British events then as part of a wider WRC programme in 1991. He won the British Rally Championship in 1994 at the wheel of Ford Escorts. In the years after, Wilson has driven occasionally at selected events. In September 2008, Wilson took part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally in a VK Vodka Kick sponsored Ford Escort RS1800 with co-driver Peter Martin. He was one of a number of ex-World and British champions to take part in the event ran in memory of McRae, who died in 2007.

Aside from rallying competition, he was also Ford's chief test driver, developing new rally cars including the short lived RS1700T and RS200 models.

M-Sport

Wilson formed Malcolm Wilson Motorsport in 1979, primarily to facilitate his own rallying career and offering motorsport services to customers such as rally car preparation. Reflecting his driving career, the company grew steadily through the 1980s and 90s until in 1996, the company was contracted by Ford to run the Ford World Rally Team from the 1997 season. The company became known as M-Sport in 1998. Following the withdrawal of Ford from rallying in 2012, M-Sport have continued to enter the World Rally Championship independently and are the manufacturer of Ford's Groups Rally cars. Other business for the company has included the Ford Raptor Rally-Raid car, Bentley Continental GT3 car preparation and engines for BTCC.

Ford World Rally Team

After his driving career, he went on to manage and run the Ford World Rally Team with his M-Sport operation, based at Dovenby Hall near Cockermouth in Cumbria.

Their work culminated in 2006 when Wilson led Ford to the World Rally Championship Manufacturers' title for the first time in 25 years; the team repeated this achievement in 2007.

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile In June 2025, Wilson was confirmed as the Deputy President for Sport at the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA).

Honours Wilson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2009 Birthday Honours. In 2018 he was awarded with the V Class Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana for his services to Estonian motorsport, with his role in the successes of Markko Märtin and Ott Tänak cited.

Complete WRC results Year Entrant Car 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 WDC Points 1977 Malcolm Wilson Ford Escort RS 2000 MON SWE POR KEN NZL GRE FIN CAN ITA FRA GBR12 – 0 1978 Malcolm Wilson Ford Escort RS 1800 MON SWE KEN POR GRE FIN CAN ITA CIV FRA GBRRet – 0 1979 Total Oil Ford Escort RS 1800 MON SWE POR KEN GRE NZL FIN CAN ITA FRA GBR15 CIV – 0 1980 Total Oil Ford Escort RS 1800 MON SWE POR KEN GRE ARG FIN NZL ITA FRA GBRRet CIV – 0 1981 Rothmans Rally Team Ford Escort RS 1800 MON SWE PORRet KEN FRA GRERet ARG BRA FIN ITA CIV GBRRet – 0 1982 Malcolm Wilson Ford Escort RS 1800 MON SWE PORRet KEN FRA GRE NZL BRA FIN ITA CIV 66th 1 Audi Sport UK Audi Quattro GBR10 1983 British Junior Rally Team Ford Escort RS1600i MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV GBR13 – 0 1984 Top Gear Audi Quattro A1 MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV GBRRet – 0 1985 Malcolm Wilson Audi Quattro A1 MON SWERet POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN ITA CIV – 0 Austin Rallying MG Metro 6R4 GBRRet 1986 Austin Rover World Rally Team MG Metro 6R4 MONRet SWERet PORRet KEN FRARet GRE NZL ARG FIN10 CIV ITA GBR17 USA 70th 1 1987 GM Dealer Sport Opel Kadett GSI MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE USA NZL ARG FIN CIV ITA GBRRet – 0 1988 Malcolm Wilson Opel Kadett GSI MON SWE8 POR KEN FRA – 0 GM Euro Sport Vauxhall Astra GTE GRERet USA NZL ARG FIN CIV ITA GBRRet 1989 Malcolm Wilson Vauxhall Astra GTE SWE13 MON POR KEN FRA GRE 18th 19 GM Euro Sport NZL3 ARG FIN AUS6 ITA CIV Vauxhall Dealer Sport GBR10 1990 Q8 Team Ford Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 MON POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FINRet AUS ITARet CIV GBRRet – 0 1991 Q8 Team Ford Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 MON7 SWE PORRet KEN FRA5 GRERet NZL ARG FIN AUS ITA10 CIV ESP GBRRet 18th 13 1992 Ford Motor Co Ltd Ford Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 MON SWE POR KEN FRA GRE NZL ARG FIN AUS ITA CIV ESP GBR9 58th 2 1993 Ford Motor Co Ltd Ford Escort RS Cosworth MON SWERet POR KEN FRA GRE ARG NZL 19th 12 Malcolm Wilson FINRet AUS ITA ESP Michelin Pilot Team Ford GBR3 1994 Ford Motor Co Ltd Ford Escort RS Cosworth MON POR KEN FRA GRE6 ARG NZL FIN GBRRet 23rd 8 Jolly Club ITA9 1995 R.A.S. Ford Ford Escort RS Cosworth MON SWE POR FRA NZL AUS ESP GBRRet – 0

See also M-Sport M-Sport World Rally Team Ford World Rally Team

References

External links

M-Sport official website Malcolm Wilson Rally homepage Rallybase stats page WRC Archive stats page eWRC-Results record