Fiesta switch for Ford
Blue Oval considers new model to front its 2011 WRC challenge
by Richard Rodgers.
Ford is planning to base its next World Rally Car on the new-generation Fiesta, Motorsport News has learned.
Mark Deans, the company's European motorsport chief, said the Blue Oval would build an all-new car for the 2011 season, providing it commits to the global series beyond the end of the current campaign.
On Rally Spain last week he conceded that the Fiesta could be used as the base car rather than the Focus, which was launched in 1999 and has carried Ford to back-to-back manufacturers' titles.
However, he insisted that any decision would not be made until after the revamped technical regulations are finalised. This is due to happen at the November meeting of the FIA's World Motor Sport Council.
Speaking to MN, Deans said: "We would need to look at the technical regulations to see which car gives us the best chance of winning. We want to win and we will deploy whatever products are neccessary.
"Until the regulations are sealed and sent out so that we can look at them, who knows what [car] it can be? Certainly two, if not a third car, could fit that broad description we are seeing with the regulations as they are at the moment.
"But it's only when you get down to that absolute definition of restrictor size and boost pressure that you can then run in the simulations and see what you are doing to find out which of the cars is the right product."
Deans was adamant that no work would start on any new car until the technical regulations have been ratified, even if that meant the new machine wouldn't compete until 2011. Although the new rules are set to be adopted from the start of the 2010 season, because it is expected that any new specification machines will not be ready until 2011.
However if moves to re-launch the WRC in 2010 go ahead, when leading makes Citroën and Ford hope the winter calendar will also be introduced, Deans has suggested Ford's new contender could be rushed through ahead of schedule. "The last homologation of the current car will be next year so we will run the current car in 2009 and 2010 if we stay," Deans said. "The pull forward will be if we change the calendar to the winter in August 2010. It gives you from January 2009 to August 2010, which isn't a long time for teams to produce an all-new car. We've all got to do the same thing."
Ford wants several demands met - including the appointment of a global promoter and adoption of a winter calendar - before it signs-up to the WRC in the long-term. However, Deans said it was "ready to go" if it gets those commitments.
Ford has a strong heritage of successful models and started with the Zephyr in 1953. Its iconic Escort was launched in 1968, while its recent successes have come from the Focus model, which was originally launched in 1999.
Compact hatchback would embrace Super 2000-based world rally rules
Any new Ford model would be based on a Super 2000 derivative under the outline terms of the WRC's new technical regulations.
Although Britek Motorsport in Australia has built an S2000 machine around the outgoing Fiesta model, Ford's world rally partner M-Sport has yet to produce it's own version.
The Britek machine was built up from a Super 1600 Fiesta in early 2007 and competed in the Australian Rally Championship. That car was approved for regional homologation earlier this year, opening the door for it to compete in championships accross the Asia-Pacific region.
In Spain last week M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson confirmed that his organisation was "evaluating a Super 2000 project with the Ford in mind."
He added: "We're looking at the viability, but that is all i can say."
Peugeot's 207 and Fiat's Grande Punto have set the pace in S2000. The Fiesta could be an ideal rally car because of its compact shape. It is a similar size to the original Focus.
... sounds interesting, i think that a next-gen Fiesta with 4wd and a turbocharged 2-litre would be great to watch, i for one wouldn't mind it replacing the Focus.
Donc dans les futures rallyes, on risque d'y croiser pêle-mêle Fiesta WRC, Fiesta S2000 et autres Fiesta Sporting Trophy (ST?).
