Ford has a glorious history of success in rallying that stretches back almost 70 years with models like the Cortina, the Escort and now the Focus contributing.
The Zephyr was replaced by the light but versatile and rugged Cortina
1964
Won the East African Safari
1966
Success on the Acropolis and RAC Rallies
1968
Roger Clark’s Lotus-engined car narrowly missed out on winning the London-Sydney Marathon
1968
Launch of the Escort and the beginning of Ford’s finest chapter in rallying history, winning the Circuit of Ireland, Tulip, Austrian Alpine, Acropolis and Scottish rallies in an eight-week period and then Finland’s 1000 Lakes Rally to help Ford secure the World Rally Championship for Makes
Special overhead-valve engined cars dominated the 16,000-mile London to Mexico World Cup Rally, finishing first, with Finn Hannu Mikkola taking victory, as well as third, fifth sixth and eighth.
1972
Mikkola won the East African Safari and Clark entered the history books of British rallying by winning the RAC Rally
1973/1974
Timo Mäkinen won RAC Rally
1975
Timo Mäkinen won RAC Rally in the new-style Mk2 Escort RS1800.
1976
Clark won RAC Rally and with Mikkola and Sweden’s Bjorn Waldegard spearheaded the official Ford team’s international charge over the course of the next few years as the Escort became virtually unbeatable
1977
Waldegard won three punishing world championship rallies: the East African Safari, the Acropolis and RAC events.
1979
Escort swept the board in the championship, winning the manufacturers’ title and the drivers’ crown for Waldegard, who edged out team-mate Mikkola
Another Finn, Ari Vatanen, continued Ford’s success with victories in Greece, Brazil and Finland the first, and only, privateer to win the world drivers’ title.
1986
The introduction of the turbocharged RS200, which won 19 international rallies in the season before more rule changes led to the introduction of the Ford Sierra
1988
Frenchman Didier Auriol scored his maiden world victory on the Tour of Corsica
The RS Cosworth and the final Escort World Rally Car make way for the Focus
1990/1991
The new turbocharged four-wheel Escort, the RS Cosworth won in Spain
1992
The Cosworth won in Britain
1993
Five world championship rounds won by François Delecour, Miki Biasion and Franco Cunico. Delecour finished second in the drivers’ championship and Ford were runners-up in the manufacturers’ series
1995
Victorious in 25 European Championship rounds, as well as national titles in Africa and Austria, Switzerland and Portugal, Finland and Turkey
1996
Final world rally success came in Indonesia in with Carlos Sainz at the wheel
1997
Ford evolved the Escort World Rally Car. Sainz drove it to victory in Greece and Indonesia as the team finished second in the manufacturers’ championship
1998
The end of the season marked the end of the Escort’s career as an official Ford-entered rally car with a remarkable 46 world class wins
1999
Introduction of the Focus as the most technically-advanced rally car ever built, winning only its third event, the demanding Safari Rally, with Colin McRae, who also won the following Rally of Portugal
McRae won in Spain and Greece. Sainz victorious in Cyprus. Ford runners-up in the manufacturers' championship
2001/2002
The team was second again as McRae and Sainz get another six world rally wins
2003
Introduction of a radical and revolutionary new Focus RS World Rally Car which took rally car design and technology to new frontiers. The car was a huge success and Markko Märtin claimed victories in Greece and Finland
2004
Markko Märtin won Rally Mexico. A new evolution was unveiled in April 2004 on Rally New Zealand and Märtin took that to victory on the final two asphalt events of the season in Corsica and Spain
2005
50th consecutive points finish in the FIA WRC. Since 1973 and 411 world rallies, no other manufacturer has scored in more than 36 consecutive events.
