|
|
|
Last Update : Today : |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Last Update : Today : |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
From the Lotus Cortina to the legendary Mk 1 and Mk2 Escorts, Ford has had a pivotal role in the World Rally Championship since its inception. The most recent chapter got started when British champion and Blue Oval stalwart Malcolm Wilson won the deal to run its campaign for the start of 1997. The Escort Cosworth that his M-Sport team inherited was long in the tooth, however, and the best double world champion Carlos Sainz could manage was wins in Indonesia and Greece on the way to third in the drivers' standings. For 1998, M-Sport updated the car for the new World Rally Car rules. Juha Kankkunen and Bruno Thiry impressed at times, but work had already started on the new Focus. It made a highly-expectant debut in Monte Carlo in 1999, and big-money signing Colin McRae showed its promise, but the car's water pump was declared illegal and the team had to redesign the part. McRae rewarded their efforts with victories in the tough Safari and Portugal events, but a troubled second half of the year denied the team a title. The Focus proved to be competitive and versatile but fragile throughout 2000, claiming wins in Spain, Greece and Cyprus at McRae's hands, but a crash in Corsica ended his title hopes, while mechanical failure for McRae and exclusion for new signing Carlos Sainz in Australia ended Ford's hopes of the manufacturers' title. McRae won in Argentina, Cyprus and Greece in 2001, but a nightmare start and end to the year handed Subaru and Richard Burns that season's titles. A more reliable update of the Focus won three rallies in 2002 and scored points on every round courtesy of McRae and Sainz, but both drivers were on their way to Citroen and M-Sport faced a much tighter budget for 2003. They plumped for cheap, but rising talent in the form of Markko Martin and Francois Duval, while a new, leaner, meaner version of the Focus from designed Christian Loriaux made its debut mid-season. Martin won in Greece and Finland, but speed came at the cost of reliability and it wasn't a title contender. Martin won again with the car in Mexico in 2004, before a more heavily-revised version made its debut. It proved to be the quickest car on asphalt at the end of the year, winning in France and Spain at Martin's hands, but was a consistent and reliable challenger on all surfaces. Martin stayed in contention for the title despite the after-effects of a high-speed shunt in Argentina, while Duval emerged as a real star. Both drivers have left the team for 2005, but the Focus could well be a winner again if the right pedallers can be found.
Fighting fit and Focused Prospects for 2004:
Ford have faced some serious budget cuts over the winter, but
they are still more than capable of winning the title if the car
stays reliable. Chief engineer Christian Loriaux has some revisions
that he thinks will make the car even faster and more reliable,
while Markko Martin is clearly championship material.
2003
The 2003 specification Focus WRC, which appeared in New Zealand, was a car that pushed back the goal posts. It nearly won its first stage and its first rally and was, by common consent, the fastest thing out there. Unfortunately, that speed came at the cost of reliability – in the early part of the season at least. Markko Martin took his first career victory in Greece and followed that up with another win in Finland. But he was equally competitive on asphalt, marking himself out as one of the season's biggest stars. Francois Duval, at 22, became the youngest man ever to score a WRC podium (in Turkey) but his form was never entirely consistent.
2002
Ford won three rallies, had its two main drivers finish third and fourth in the standings and comfortably finished second in the manufacturers' title race. Not a bad haul. Ford's reliability was never in question - it was the only team to score on every round of the series - but, like the rest of the WRC field, the car couldn't match the pace of the Peugeots. The Focus excelled on rough gravel events, but Peugeot even managed to breach the bastion of Ford here, with Marcus Gronholm winning in Cyprus after Colin McRae rolled. Team boss Malcolm Wilson's decision to pick youth over experience in 2003 seemed vindicated on the final round of 2002, when Martin came within a whisker of scoring his first WRC win and comprehensively beat the departing McRae and Carlos Sainz.
2001
Colin McRae started the year with four consecutive nightmare rallies,
but a storming hat-trick of wins in Argentina, Cyprus and Greece took
him to the head of the mid-season standings. He never quite recovered
that form and ended the year on a low note after a brush with officialdom
in Australia and a huge crash in Britain, handing the title to arch-rival
Richard Burns with the latter indiscretion. Carlos Sainz was always
a strong threat but never a winner, while third driver Francois Delecour
drove some heroic rallies and often outpaced his team leaders.
2000
The Focus was still fragile, but it was competitive on virtually any surface and it claimed wins on the asphalt of Spain, and the rocky tracks of Greece and Cyprus. Drivers' title hopes basically rested on Colin McRae's shoulders as Carlos Sainz was a late developer, but the Scot's dreams were shattered by a horrific Corsican accident. Ford still had a chance of the manufacturers' crown until Australia, when McRae's blown engine and Sainz's exclusion handed the title to Peugeot.
1999
Expectations for the new Focus WRC and Colin McRae were high, but they tripped up on the car's first outing, Monte Carlo, when the car's water pump was declared illegal. Ford worked miracles to redesign the part and the pairing bagged two wins in Safari and Portugal, sending title gossip through the roof. But Colin failed to finish a rally after Corsica in May, and his part-time team-mates (Thomas Radstrom, Petter Solberg and Simon Jean-Joseph) fared little better.
1998
Work had now commenced on the Escort's replacement but M-Sport was still developing the old warhorse and, in the hands of Juha Kankkunen and Bruno Thiry, it was still an occasionally competitive beast. The four-times world champion, in particular, was a regular points finisher, but he never looked like winning a rally on merit and he did well to haul himself into fourth in the drivers' standings.
1997
Ford joined Subaru on the initial World Rally Car bandwagon, using the regulations to make badly-needed changes to the Escort's rear suspension design. It worked, too - Carlos Sainz bagged wins in Indonesia and Greece and finished a fine third in the drivers' standings. But his team-mate Armin Schwarz fell out with team management over money and was dumped after Corsica, making way for Juha Kankkunen. At least the veteran showed some of his old sparkle.
1996
After Toyota's ban, Carlos Sainz moved to the team, but the Escort Cosworth was beginning to look long in the tooth against more complex machinery from Subaru and Mitsubishi. The Spaniard still coped well, though, winning in Indonesia and finishing second in the drivers' series. Team-mate Bruno Thiry suffered his usual bad luck, but was a capable sidekick.
Pre 1996
How long have you got? From the Lotus Cortina to the legendary Mk 1 and Mk 2 Escorts, Ford has played a pivotal role at the top of rallying's tree for more than 30 years. Politics and a lack of direction kept the team from the victory podium during much of the 1980s, but through cars like the Ford Sierra Cosworth and Escort Cosworth, the Blue Oval played its part during the early 1990s - without winning a title.
|
TEAM PRINCIPAL: Malcolm Wilson DRIVERS: Toni Gardemeister - Roman Kresta CAR: Focus RS WRC BASED: Cumbria, England
TEAM ESTABLISHED: 1996
FIRST WRC WIN (M-Sport): Acropolis, 1999 TEAM HIGHLIGHTS: 2004: Markko Martin wins three rallies to take third in the drivers' standings. Ford is second in the manufacturers' fight 2003: Markko Martin wins Greece and Finland while the team takes fourth in the manufacturers' title 2002: Ford takes second in the manufacturers' title battle, but Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae struggle in drivers' title chase 2001: Both Colin McRae and Carlos Sainz figure in the drivers' title fight, whilst the team takes second in the manufacturers' title 2000:
Consistency helps Carlos
Sainz to third in the Driver's Championship,
whilst Ford takes second in the manufacturers'
title |
