Ford Wins 2007 WRC Title
Kuala Lumpur, 19 November 2007 – Ford won its second consecutive world title in Sligo, Ireland yesterday by securing the manufacturers’ crown in the FIA World Rally Championship with the Focus RS World Rally Car 07*. The BP-Ford World Rally Team finished Rally Ireland on Sunday afternoon with a 21-point lead to secure the prestigious title with one event remaining in the 16-round series.
Taking the lead since the third round in Norway, the has secured enough points to claim the title for 2007, even though the British RAC Rally is yet to be run.
On Top Again in 2007
Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen triumphed in Sweden, Italy and Greece during the first half of the season while team-mates Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen won in Norway – all in the 2006-specification Focus RS World Rally Car. Grönholm secured a debut victory for the Focus RS World Rally Car 07 in Finland as the second part of the season got under way and added another victory in New Zealand in September after the closest finish in WRC history. Hirvonen added his second victory in Japan last month.
Both Focus RS World Rally Cars were developed by British-based company M-Sport and specialist engineers at Ford TeamRS, Ford’s performance car and motorsport division under the lead of TeamRS Director Jost Capito for the last four years.
John Fleming, President and CEO of Ford of Europe, emphasised the team achievement and what the title meant to Ford. “We’re delighted with this result. Winning the world championship in 2006 with a new car was a superb achievement, but to defend that title successfully this year and secure the championship with one event remaining is outstanding and raises our accomplishments to new heights. Ford takes great pride in the success of the car and the team and I would like to thank every member of the BP-Ford World Rally Team for their dedication this year. They can once again proudly state that they are the best in the world.”
“It’s a great thrill to see Ford on top of the world again,” said Capito. “We have consistently produced high-quality performances and results through the season. We work together as a team and that bond goes far beyond the proven talents of Marcus, Timo, Mikko and Jarmo. It stretches to the core engineers who provided a super base vehicle in the Focus road car from which we developed the Focus RS WRC. I am personally proud of this result and I now feel comfortable to take on a new role within Ford from the beginning of 2008.”
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The 2007 title further enhances the hugely successful partnership between Ford of Europe and M-Sport, which has operated the Blue Oval’s WRC programme under Malcolm Wilson since its inception in 1997.
Wilson said, “Once again Marcus Grönholm and Timo Rautiainen have expertly led Ford’s challenge in their final season before retirement. They received magnificent support from Mikko Hirvonen and Jarmo Lehtinen, who showed increasing maturity as the season progressed to establish themselves as one of the best partnerships in the world and natural successors to their retiring colleagues.”
Ford and Rallying – A Heritage of Success
Ford has been synonymous with motorsport for more than a century. It was on 10 October 1901 that Henry Ford beat the famous driver Alexander Winton to win the Grosse Pointe Race with a 26 PS that he personally developed. In the 1930s the Blue Oval twice won the famous Monte Carlo Rally and from that point on, the list of wonderful Ford cars developed to fight and win in the toughest championship is impressive. They include the innovative Zephyr, the Cortina that triumphed in the incredibly hard Safari Rally in 1964, the powerful Falcon and, by the end of the 1960s, the legendary Escort that claimed the first of its 21 WRC victories in the championship’s inaugural season in 1973.
In 1979 Bjorn Waldegard drove an Escort RS1800 to Ford’s first manufacturers’ title and also claimed the drivers’ crown. Two years later Ari Vatanen clinched a second drivers’ title in a similar car.
The Focus World Rally Car made its debut in 1999 and since then has won 31 world rallies. It took its maiden title success last season when Ford secured its first manufacturers’ championship for 27 years with the Focus RS World Rally Car 06 in its debut season.
*Subject to the official publication of the results by the FIA
