Ford Focus WRC

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Marcus Grönholm driving the Ford Focus WRC in 2006.

The Ford Focus WRC is a car built for the BP Ford World Rally Team by Malcolm Wilson's M-Sport and based on the Ford Focus production hatchback, developed to compete in the World Rally Championship.

Like all contemporary World Rally Cars, the car is heavily modified from the production version, with which it shares only the basic shape and some parts of the bodyshell. The car features four wheel drive, rather than the front wheel drive of the road car. Even the engine has been replaced with a Yamaha tuned engine.

1 History
2 References
3 External links

[edit] History

[edit] 1999

The first version of the car was built in 1999 to replace the Ford Escort WRC. It debuted in the Monte Carlo Rally with Colin McRae and Simon Jean-Joseph behind the wheels of the two cars. It was immediately on the pace, setting many fastest stage times, but the use of an illegal water pump meant that the two cars were excluded from the event. McRae gave the Focus its first win two events later on the Safari Rally Kenya finishing over 15 minutes ahead of the second placed Toyota of Didier Auriol.

[edit] 2003

In 2003, Ford released a newly designed Focus WRC for competition during the second part of the season. The car, with most parts redesigned from the ground up, featured a lighter body shell and a new aerodynamically enhanced front bumper and wing.

[edit] 2006

Mikko Hirvonen at the 2006 Rally Japan.

From the last rally of 2005, Ford campaigned a brand new Focus WRC, following the launch of the new road-going version of the car. The engine chosen for this Focus was a Duratec motor developed by the French engine specialist Pipo Moteur. ^[1]