The Focus WRC made an excellent debut at the 1999 Monte Carlo Rally where it finished 3rd overall driven by Colin McRae, ex-Subaru driver and rapidly heading towards superstar level. The second car, driven by the rising French driver Simon Jean-Joseph had less luck but still finished the rally in an honorable 11th overall position. I guess that this is a more than successful start for a brand new car which proved it holds a considerable development potential. Note however that the car was allowed to take part in this event (the 1999 Monte Carlo) under appeal after the FIA scrutinizers had detected a non regular water pump and cooling system (the water pump was mounted in an off-engine location and was ducting water to each cylinder separately). Ford's appeal was rejected two weeks later thus disqualifying their entry as well as deleting the manufacturer's and driver points from the WRC. During the 1999 season the Ford team included another member, Thomas Rädstrom a Swedish driver who drove on slippery events (snow and gravel) whereas Jean-Joseph drove on tarmac events. McRae drove on all the season's events. An interesting anecdote regarding the Focus WRC's excess weight, compared to its rivals, happened during the final stage of the 1999 Swedish rally. Two drivers were fighting for the third overall position, Didier Auriol in the Corolla WRC and Thomas Rädstrom in the Focus WRC. they were only separated by 10 seconds with Thomas in front. Thomas knew that Didier was able to gap the difference and that he would try everything he could to overtake him. He also had realized the weight disadvantage of the Focus compared to the Corolla. Ford decided to strip the car of everything unnecessary to finish the rally. When they were done the Focus was still overweight. Thomas then decided that he and his co-driver would not carry their drinking bottles to gain some additional overall weight. The stage was run and Didier managed, through exceptional/heroic driving, to gain a whole 8.1 seconds on Thomas which was, unfortunately for him, not enough to allow him to take the third overall position. That was one of the most memorable moments in recent rally history, especially so because Didier's driving through that stage was entirely retransmitted on TV, really impressive.

The Ford Focus being a WRC class car it is not available in any street going form. Only cars destined to World Rally Championship events will be built. Additionally, Ford, unlike all other manufacturers, will sale the new car to private teams in its first year of existence. So far no other WRC manufacturer has sold cars they race for less than a year. Note , however, that privately owned Focus WRC are not as evolved as the official ones.

The least one can say is that during the 1999 season Ford Motorsport gave themselves a real chance to win the WRC title. They had some of the best drivers including Colin McRae, the most expensive one, in the World Rally Championship history, a very competitive car and the budget necessary to compete seriously against all other major manufacturers and there are now quite a few around.

In late 1999 Ford announced that Carlos Sainz would join Colin McRae for the 2000 season. Colin's record of crashes in 1999 brings back memories of old and shows younger fans why he used to be known as McCrash. Shortly after Carlos had signed with Ford the company solicited the FIA for homologation amendments regarding the Focus. These include a new turbocharger, improved aerodynamics (fascia uplift, smaller rear wing spoiler), a repositioning of the clutch relative to the gearbox (the old clutch was causing minor vibrations) and various, minor, engine part changes. In late 2000 Peugeot fugitive and ex-Ford works driver and legend François Delecour joined the Ford team only to strengthen it. François provided more than adequate backing to both Carlos and Colin until he transferred to Mitsubishi RalliArt in 2002 and was replaced by young Markko Märtin.

The car itself underwent numerous modifications and improvements during the 2002 season. These were driven, mainly, by the FIA decision to forbid the use of ceramic materials in the engine bay and the hunt for weight reduction. Other detail modification were aimed at increased reliability and durability and included a modified power steering mounting, modified gear selection lever and integrated onboard electronics.

We hope they'll get it right this time. We're counting on you Malcolm, will the European ingenuity prevail Japanese resources? We surely hope so...

Rumor has is that a Focus WRC looking car will be commercialized by Ford in 2001. This car will, allegedly, have front wheel drive, a turbocharged Cosworth engine derivative and around 200Bhp. You can see pictures of the prototype presented in the 1999 Detroit show here. In 2003 a full time 4WD version is likely to follow. Let's hope these cars do make it to the market one day although I personally feel this is unlikely.

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