Sadly, Ford appears to be backing away a bit from the "global" small-car racing programs. There are a number of "privateer" initiatives -- especially for the crazy, monster Fiesta WRC and GRC cars. There is no serious racing going on with the Focus RS as far as I know. Ken Block tried to race this car in the RX series, but that was terminated this year when Ford killed its RX effort in October.
Realistically, the only things that looks promising for 2018 are the various Ford-powered cars competing in the various levels of the the FIA WRC championships. From Junior WRC to WRC supercars, Ford-powered cars were successful at every level of FIA rally competion in 2017. Part of that is because Ford engines are the default spec engines for the "junior" and other supporting-level series. Ford Duratec engines power the GRC Lites, while Ford Fiesta R2 engines (1.0 liter turbos) power the JWRC cars.
This year, Sébastien Ogier won the FIA WRC championship in a Fiesta after switching from VW following the 2016 season. VW pulled its Polo platform (having won 4 straight titles). Ott Tänak switched to factory-back Toyota, while Elfyn Evans will team with Ogier.
VW is coming back to WRC in 2018 (after dominating Red Bull GRC and FIA WRX in 2017), but in the WRC2 group. Ogier stuck with M-Sport. One reason he came back to M-Sport was that Ford Performance committed to providing continued and increased factory technical support to the UK race team's efforts. If you check the results for the 2017 and the four prior years, you'll notice that Ogier absolutely ruled the roost when driving the Polos. Last year's win, and the team win for Ford/M-Sport, was much tougher and relied on a victory by teammate Elfyn Evans in the UK event to seal the team win.
One interesting thing emerging is the electric-platform series announced by Red Bull GRC last year. Ford is the only one of the major car makers participating in WRC that has not expressed interest in participating an e-powered rally series. Things change, but it'll be interesting to see how e-WRC shakes out.
As for Red Bull GRC, VW appears to have a strangle hold on that series. With Ford killing off the Fiesta in the US, it seems unlikely that we'll see much series success in the US. You never know. Steve Arpin had a lot of success, but VW's team is just crushing it.
We could be looking at a rather bleak period for Ford rally supporters, especially in the US.
Here are some links for rally followers:
Rally racing organizations:
This is not a complete list for sure. If you have additional resources, please add them in this thread and I'll include them here.
Realistically, the only things that looks promising for 2018 are the various Ford-powered cars competing in the various levels of the the FIA WRC championships. From Junior WRC to WRC supercars, Ford-powered cars were successful at every level of FIA rally competion in 2017. Part of that is because Ford engines are the default spec engines for the "junior" and other supporting-level series. Ford Duratec engines power the GRC Lites, while Ford Fiesta R2 engines (1.0 liter turbos) power the JWRC cars.
This year, Sébastien Ogier won the FIA WRC championship in a Fiesta after switching from VW following the 2016 season. VW pulled its Polo platform (having won 4 straight titles). Ott Tänak switched to factory-back Toyota, while Elfyn Evans will team with Ogier.
VW is coming back to WRC in 2018 (after dominating Red Bull GRC and FIA WRX in 2017), but in the WRC2 group. Ogier stuck with M-Sport. One reason he came back to M-Sport was that Ford Performance committed to providing continued and increased factory technical support to the UK race team's efforts. If you check the results for the 2017 and the four prior years, you'll notice that Ogier absolutely ruled the roost when driving the Polos. Last year's win, and the team win for Ford/M-Sport, was much tougher and relied on a victory by teammate Elfyn Evans in the UK event to seal the team win.
One interesting thing emerging is the electric-platform series announced by Red Bull GRC last year. Ford is the only one of the major car makers participating in WRC that has not expressed interest in participating an e-powered rally series. Things change, but it'll be interesting to see how e-WRC shakes out.
As for Red Bull GRC, VW appears to have a strangle hold on that series. With Ford killing off the Fiesta in the US, it seems unlikely that we'll see much series success in the US. You never know. Steve Arpin had a lot of success, but VW's team is just crushing it.
We could be looking at a rather bleak period for Ford rally supporters, especially in the US.
Here are some links for rally followers:
Rally racing organizations:
- Red Bull GRC -- http://redbullglobalrallycross.com
- WRC -- http://www.wrc.com/vs/en/index.html
- Rally America -- http://www.rally-america.com
- American Rally Association: https://www.americanrallyassociation.org
- NASA Rally Sport: https://www.nasarallysport.com/main/
- Dirt Fish: http://www.dirtfish.com
- Team O'Neil Rally School: https://teamoneil.com
This is not a complete list for sure. If you have additional resources, please add them in this thread and I'll include them here.
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