Earlier this year, Ford admitted they are taking into consideration the use of their Fiesta platform for their 2010 WRC car, which will have to be S2000-based. In the meantime, however, the car maker has also confirmed the development of a brand new Fiesta R2, aimed to replace the ST model in the worldwide Fiesta SportingTrophy series.
“There’s been a huge amount of interest in both of the new Fiestas. We’ve had people calling us from everywhere: Russia, Portugal, the UK, Italy. It’s incredible. We’ve even had some people sending us a deposit for a car, even though we haven’t set prices yet,” Wilson announced, as reported by the aforementioned source.
The M-Sport boss also confirmed that the R2 will see “official daylight” – as compared to testing programme at the present time – on the roads of the UK in late August, the soonest.
“The plan is to homologate it next year and have it running at the end of August or the beginning of September. We’ll certainly do the early running somewhere in the UK,” added Wilson.
As revealed by Ford Europe's motorsport director Mark Deans in October last year, the company is considering building a Fiesta-based WRC car for the 2011 season. FIA's confirming the S2000 future of the series late last year has certainly provided Ford with enough arguments to start the development of such a car as soon as possible.
An official confirmation of a Fiesta-based programme – designed exclusively for the WRC – is yet to be made public by Ford Europe.
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