Highlights:

From the legendary Escort to the record-breaking Focus, Ford has been a mainstay of the World Rally Championship (WRC) since the early 1970s. Now, as the WRC embarks upon a new era, the team begins another quest for rallying's top honour with the Finnish duo of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala hoping to win Ford a third Manufacturer's title behind the wheel of the Ford Fiesta RS WRC.

The most recent chapter in Ford's WRC story started when British champion and Blue Oval stalwart Malcolm Wilson won the deal to run Ford's campaign in 1997. Since then, Ford and M-Sport have accumulated a string of international titles and rally wins including 46 event victories at world championship level.

In 1999 the Ford Focus WRC made its debut at the prestigious Rallye Monte-Carlo where, combined with the big-money signing of Colin McRae, the team showed real promise. In the same season McRae took victory on the uncompromising Safari and Portuguese events but a troubled second half of the year denied the team the title.

2003 saw the introduction of the radical and revolutionary new Ford Focus RS WRC which took rally car design and technology to new frontiers. In its debut season the car brought Markko Märtin victories in Greece and Finland, but it was not until the glory days of Marcus Grõnholm and Mikko Hirvonen that the car would show its true potential. In the hands of the Finnish partnership the Focus gifted Ford consecutive manufacturer’s titles in 2006 and 2007.

After 12 years, 44 rally wins and 99 other podiums, the Ford Focus bowed out of  WRC competition at the end of 2010. In 2011, Ford’s all-new challenger, the Ford Fiesta RS WRC, will be aiming to exceed these successes.