'Back where it belongs': why Ford is making factory WRC comeback after 15 seasons

After an absence of 15 seasons, Ford will return to the World Rally Championship from 2028 in a factory capacity – making use of the new regulations that were recently formalised by the FIA to create a brand new rally car for 2029.

Since announcing its works withdrawal at the end of the 2012 season, the marque has nonetheless been consistently represented across all classes of the WRC by M-Sport, the famous Cumbria-based team run by Malcolm Wilson that has taken care of Ford’s rallying campaigns since 1997 and now looks after its Dakar programme with the Raptor as well.

Wilson, who additionally serves as FIA vice-president for sport, has also been instrumental in putting together a deal for French automotive group Cosmopolis – together with investment firm Park Square Capital – to take over as the new owners of WRC Promoter, with Ford’s official return marking an impressive coup for the new structure, which was only announced on 31 July.

Before Ford comes back in its full capacity, M-Sport will continue to represent the brand next year using the FIA kit that will allow the current Rally2 Fiesta to compete in the top class.

In 2028, Ford will lend further support to M-Sport as it continues to rally the Fiesta – despite European production ceasing in 2023 – while developing a brand new car under the latest WRC regulations set to make its debut in 2029.

These new rules allow an unprecedented degree of freedom over which car and body shape can be used, as the basis of homologation is no longer a standard production shell.

Intriguingly, M-Sport itself has alluded to Ford’s “new European range of rally-inspired vehicles, which will come to market from 2028 onwards”, underlying the importance of this campaign to the manufacturer’s global marketing strategy.

As a result, Ford continues an unbroken run of representation since the WRC officially began in 1973, 53 years ago. Not all of that time has been in a factory capacity, but the results total to date is an impressive 94 WRC wins from both factory and non-factory entries, as well as three official manufacturers’ world rally titles: in 1979, 2006, and 2007.

Ford as a brand has also notched up a 24-year record of manufacturer points-scoring finishes in the WRC, starting on the 2002 Monte Carlo Rally and finishing at the end of the 2025 season: 231 rallies in total.

The cars that characterised this remarkable era were firstly the Focus – which became famous as Colin McRae’s choice from 1999 onwards, while the facelift version was synonymous with Marcus Gronholm, who helped to deliver back-to-back manufacturer titles for Ford from 2006 to 2007.

The Focus was succeeded by the Fiesta WRC, which claimed both the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles for M-Sport in 2017 as well as the drivers’ title in 2018 with Sébastien Ogier once more.

However, the car that first started M-Sport’s factory story in the WRC back in 1997 was the Escort WRC, a project it had largely inherited from Ford’s in-house works team that ran the programme from Essex up until the end of 1996 with models such as the Sierra and Escort Cosworth.

From the very beginning in the 1970s though, the archetypal Ford rally car was the rear-wheel drive Escort, which enjoyed unprecedented success in both Mk1 and Mk2 guises. As has been the case for many of the world’s top drivers, the Mk1 Escort was Malcolm Wilson’s own first rally car in 1974 – while his best result on a WRC event was third on the 1993 RAC Rally, at the wheel of an Escort Cosworth.

Between those eras, Ford was even represented on the world stage by the RS200 Group B car, which took its first overall victory with Wilson on the 1985 Lindisfarne Rally. But it never quite showed the same potential on the WRC, with a best result of third on its debut in Sweden in 1985, courtesy of Kalle Grundel.

In recent years, Ford has been showcased in the top class by the Rally1 Puma: a car that memorably won on its debut at the 2022 Monte Carlo Rally, driven by a 47-year-old Sebastien Loeb. To date, he is the oldest driver to win a WRC round on perhaps the most demanding event of them all.

Since then, the Puma hasn’t quite tasted the same sort of success, with only two more wins coming the following year; both thanks to Ott Tanak. A large part of the subsequent slide has been down to an inexperienced driver choice dictated by a chronic lack of full funding; an issue that should resolve itself as Ford comes back on board in an official capacity – and so makes a seat in next year’s Rally2 Fiesta a plum spot.

All these various cars are on display at M-Sport’s museum in Cockermouth, as well as many others that competed in the lower categories, making the Cumbrian outfit the natural choice to continue the campaign as Ford officially returns to rallying.

“From my early rallying days, Ford has been front and centre of both my racing career and my business,” said Wilson. “This announcement is such an exciting one, both for M-Sport and for the sport of rallying. Ford is in many ways synonymous with rallying, and it feels like they are back where they belong. I’m very proud that, after 30 years together, they have once again chosen M-Sport to be alongside them.”

Ford’s announcement means that four constructors have now committed to building a rally car under the new 2027 regulations, including Toyota, Project Rally One, and RMC Motorsport.

This latest development also consolidates the return of Ford as a true global motor sport powerhouse. In addition to WRC and Dakar, the Blue Oval is also working with Red Bull producing power units in Formula 1 and building its own new Hypercar in endurance racing, alongside the programme with the Mustang GT3.

Having been at risk of fading into rallying obscurity over the past few years, Ford is now well and truly back in the limelight.