The Oval returns!

Ford has confirmed a full factory return to the FIA World Rally Championship from 2028, ending a 15-season absence from the WRC following its withdrawal at the end of 2012. Announced on 1 October 2026 during Rally Italia Sardegna, the programme will see Ford Racing become directly involved alongside long-standing partner M-Sport, before an all-new Rally1 car built to the new WRC27 regulations makes its competitive debut in 2029.

The return reconnects Ford with a rallying heritage forged by the Mk1 and Mk2 Escort. The Mk1 won the gruelling 1970 London-to-Mexico World Cup Rally, while the RS1600 claimed its first WRC victory at Finland’s 1973 1,000 Lakes Rally and filled all three podium places on that year’s RAC Rally. Its Mk2 successor went even further: the RS1800 carried Ford and Björn Waldegård to the manufacturers’ and drivers’ championships in 1979, before Ari Vatanen added another drivers’ crown in 1981.

Ford’s later rally icons continued that winning tradition. The Escort RS Cosworth scored five outright victories during its first WRC season in 1993, while the Focus RS WRC ended Ford’s 27-year manufacturers’ title drought with consecutive championships in 2006 and 2007. The Fiesta WRC then delivered another landmark campaign in 2017, when M-Sport won the manufacturers’ title and Sébastien Ogier secured the drivers’ championship, with Ogier retaining his crown in 2018.

Central to that modern success has been M-Sport, which took charge of Ford’s WRC programme in 1997 and ran the factory Escorts, Focuses and Fiestas. When Ford ended its full works involvement after 2012, the Cumbria-based team continued independently with Ford machinery, keeping the Blue Oval represented in the championship and famously winning the 2017 titles with the Fiesta. More recently, M-Sport has campaigned the Ford Puma Rally1, proving that Ford-badged cars never disappeared from the WRC even though Ford itself was no longer operating a full factory programme.

That distinction makes the new announcement so significant: this is not simply the return of a Ford name or badge, but the restoration of direct factory involvement behind M-Sport’s proven rally operation. With Ford Racing joining the campaign in 2028 and a completely new works car following in 2029, one of rallying’s most celebrated partnerships is entering a fresh chapter—linking the spirit of the Escort, Cosworth, Focus and Fiesta eras with the WRC’s next generation.