Ford Vows to Increase Engine Power for 2011 WRC

Ford experienced an up-and-down start of the season in the 2011 World Rally Championship, having dominated the opening round in Sweden before watching how the two Citroens of Sebastien Loeb and Sebastien Ogier competed one against the other to score the most stage wins in Mexico. And while the running surface plays a big role in the series, Ford has vowed to work on the engine as well in order to give its driver the best chances of winning events this year.

With the WRC switching to a new era this season – 1.6 litre turbocharged – Ford has prepared intensively for the 2011 campaign, developing a brand new rally platform based on their Fiesta model. However, with a handful of weeks still to go until the FIA's engine homologation for 2011 – scheduled for late April – Ford will now focus all its efforts to increasing the performance of their 1.6-litre powerplant by that deadline.

“We have got more coming on the engine side,” promised Ford's boss Malcolm Wilson after his team's not so perfect rally in Mexico.

“We're working on the efficiency of the engine, mainly in the area of the direct injection. There will be refinements, but these will come in time for the homologation in May. It's impossible to say what sort of power or torque increases we could be looking at, but certainly the engine will be refined for May.”

Until then, Wilson's most noticeable problems after Rally Mexico are related to the electrical issues suffered by two of his Fiesta RS WRCs last weekend. Ken Block had to retire two times from the rally due to these types of problems – returning to action thanks to the superally rule – while Stobart's Matthew Wilson also said an early good bye to the action in North America after less tha one day of running.

The next round on schedule in the 2011 WRC is Rally Portugal, due to kick off on March 24.