Ford Officially Launches Ford Fiesta S2000 Rally Car

Ford Fiesta S2000, officially launched

The wait is over, as Ford Europe has finally unveiled their Ford Fiesta S2000 rally car after approximately 9 months of development and research by the design and engineering team at M-Sport.

Although the car is yet to be homologated by the International Automobile Federation (FIA), it was already placed on the entry list of the upcoming Rally of Scotland in the IRC Series (International Rally Challenge). The official unveiling of the Fiesta S2000 car took place at M-Sport’s Cumbrian base in the UK and benefitted from the presence of M-Sport boss Malcolm Wilson and Ford of Europe’s Senior Motorsport Manager, Gerard Quinn.

“Today is a very exciting day for us. This is the first global rally car for Ford and M-Sport, I really believe that we have produced a fantastic rally car and this launch is a big step to seeing it out competing in rallies. It’s the first time in five years that we have been able to offer a Ford rally car that can challenge for overall victory in national championships across the world,” said Wilson.

Ford Fiesta S2000, officially launched

The car will compete in national and international rally championships all over the world throughout the 2010 season, as well as in the S2000 World Cup. The car underwent several testing sessions on the roads of the UK and will now be debuted in the Scottish event by none other than Wilson's son and Stobart Ford's rally driver Matthew.

“It’s a fantastic feeling today to see the car actually launched to the world after all the hard work and testing behind closed doors. Everyone at M-Sport has had to pull together in order to get the Fiesta S2000 finished in such a short period of time and it has been a great team effort to get to this point so quickly,” added M-Sport Technical Director Christian Loriaux.

“(...) We have made a very promising start in testing and I am more than pleased with the performance of the car so far; it will be interesting to see how the real pace of the car compares to the competition,” added the M-Sport technical.

That being said, the Fiesta S2000 will see competition daylight from as early as later today, in Perth (starting point of the Scottish Rally).