Ford signs deal to stay in WRC until 2013

Ford has signed a deal to remain in the World Rally Championship with the Fiesta RS WRC car until 2013.

The new contract will see M-Sport, the outfit that has prepared Ford’s WRC cars since 1997, continuously fettling the Fiestas in a hope to clinch the WRC crown in the next two years.

Run by Malcolm Wilson – a man that isn’t a stranger to the world rally scene having competed at international level himself – M-Sport will have its work cut out with continuing competition from Citroen and MINI, and the addition of VW to the championship with its Polo WRC challenger.

The announcement spells excellent news for motorsport manufacturing and engineering in Britain though.

With Prodrive (the firm behind Colin McRae and Richard Burns’ WRC title successes in Subaru Imprezas) preparing the current crop of MINI Countryman WRCs, and M-Sport continuing to campaign the Fiestas, there’s a good chance a British-built car could achieve top honours next year.

In fact, M-Sport and Ford came close to being crowned champions this year with Mikko Hirvonen finishing runner-up to French rally legend, Sebastien Loeb, by just eight points.

The Finish driver won’t be behind the wheel of a WRC Fiesta next year however. Ford and M-Sport will retain Jari-Matti Latvala (Hirvonen’s ex-team mate) with former World Champion Petter Solberg in the second of the Fiestas for the 2012 season.