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CARDIFF, 11 November 2010 – Since its debut in 1999, the Ford Focus World Rally Car has earned a place in motorsport history as one of the sport's great rally cars.  Here we highlight some of the car's landmark moments during a career that brought back-to-back manufacturers' world titles in 2006 and 2007.   

 

1999

• Focus World Rally Car makes its debut in the Monte Carlo Rally
• Focus claims its first victory when Colin McRae wins Kenya's Safari Rally on only its third event
• McRae follows up with a start to finish victory in the next round in Portugal.

 

2000

• Focus claims its maiden asphalt victory when McRae wins Spain's Catalunya Rally by just 5.9sec
• McRae and Carlos Sainz finish first and second on the Acropolis Rally in Greece.
• Focus takes another 1-2 finish in Cyprus.  This time Sainz leads McRae.

 

2001

• New homologation sees the car named Focus RS WRC for the first time
• McRae wins in Argentina, Cyprus and Greece
• McRae leads the drivers' series going into the final round in Britain, but retires after a huge crash on the first day

 

2002

• Sainz and McRae finish in the points on the Monte Carlo Rally - the start of a record-breaking run of consecutive points finishes
• Sainz achieves a record-equalling 24th WRC win in Argentina after two drivers ahead of him are excluded at the finish
• McRae joins the record-equalling band by taking his 24th victory in Greece, before topping the all-time tally when he takes win number 25 in Kenya

 

2003

• The all-new Focus RS WRC debuts in New Zealand
• The car takes its first victory in the hands of Markko Märtin in Greece. 
• Thousands of Estonians paint Jyväskylä blue and white as they watch Märtin's emotional win in Rally Finland.

 

2004

• Märtin and François Duval claim a 1-2 finish in Mexico on M-Sport's 100th WRC entry with Ford
• Focus establishes itself as the top car on asphalt as Märtin wins consecutive rounds in France and Spain

 

2005

• Toni Gardemeister is a surprise early leader of the drivers' championship after finishing second and third in Monte Carlo and Sweden
• New Focus RS WRC debuts in Australia and both Gardemeister and Roman Kresta set fastest times after no pre-event testing

 

2006

• Marcus Grönholm scores a debut win in the Focus in the Monte Carlo Rally
• Grönholm takes seven wins during the season as the Focus lifts the manufacturers' world title in New Zealand with one rally remaining
• Mikko Hirvonen scores his first WRC win in Australia

 

2007

• Focus retains the manufacturers' world title at the penultimate round in Ireland
• The car wins eight rounds of the championship
• Grönholm's win in New Zealand is the closest in WRC history – just 0.3sec

 

2008

• Jari-Matti Latvala becomes the youngest winner of a WRC rally when the Focus triumphs in Sweden
• Hirvonen's victory in Turkey creates WRC history as the Focus claims its 100th consecutive points finish
• Focus breaks another record when Hirvonen becomes the first driver to score points in every championship round

 

2009

• Focus wins five consecutive rounds – Italy, Greece, Poland, Finland, Australia – to create the best winning run Ford has enjoyed in WRC.
• After a thrilling battle that lasts until the final morning of the final rally, Hirvonen is pipped to the drivers' title by just one point.

 

2010

• Focus RS WRC starts its final rally as an official Ford entry car in Britain
• Rally GB is the 174th world rally for Focus as Ford's official entry
• In the previous 173 starts, Focus has won 44 rallies, claimed 43 second places and 55 third place finishes.
• Focus has scored points on 131 consecutive world rallies – a record unmatched in WRC.

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