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Ford Confirms Return to World Rally Championship for 2028
Ford will field a full factory WRC effort from 2028, reviving the Fiesta with M-Sport before an all-new car arrives in 2029 under radical new technical rules.
By Edward Beaumont · 5 min read
Ford has confirmed it will return to the World Rally Championship as a full factory team from 2028, ending a works absence that stretches back more than a decade. The American manufacturer will partner with M-Sport to run a temporarily revived Fiesta in its first season back, before introducing an all-new rally machine in 2029.
The move restores Ford to the top tier of rallying, where it was a constant presence from the championship's inaugural season in 1978 until 2012. Privateer teams have continued to run Ford machinery with factory support since then, but the company has not mounted a full works campaign. That changes for 2028, with the Fiesta serving as a warm-up before the new car arrives a year later.
Ford's decision comes as the WRC prepares for its most significant technical overhaul in decades. From 2027, new rules will introduce a cost cap of €345,000 per car and mandate a tubular spaceframe safety cell, a common structure designed to keep entry costs down and encourage more manufacturers to join. Teams will be able to place anything from a hatchback to a crossover body over the shared safety cell.
Hybrid technology and even fully electric power are on the table from 2029, raising the prospect of petrol versus electric battles on rally stages. The regulations are intended to lower the financial barrier to entry while allowing manufacturers to showcase different powertrain technologies.
Ford's rallying heritage is substantial. The company won the manufacturers' and drivers' titles in 1979 with Bjorn Waldegard at the wheel of a Mk2 Escort RS1800, and took back-to-back manufacturers' championships in 2006 and 2007 with the Focus RS WRC. Most recently, M-Sport's Fiesta WRC claimed top honours in both categories in 2017 with Ford's support, though M-Sport was technically the manufacturer on that occasion.
The return to WRC forms part of a broader expansion of Ford's motorsport programme. The company already supplies hybrid engines to the Red Bull Formula 1 team, is preparing a World Endurance Championship hypercar, and recently debuted a Raptor T1+ Dakar competitor. It also runs Mustangs in IMSA and GT racing, as well as in NASCAR. Rallying had represented the most conspicuous gap in that strategy for many Ford enthusiasts.
Ford insists the benefits will extend beyond the rally stage. Jim Baumbick, President of Ford Europe, said the company wants customers to feel a connection to its rally programme in their everyday driving. «We want you to feel a spark of that rally-stage emotion on your everyday commute,» he wrote on the brand's From The Road blog. «That is what we mean by rally-bred. It is not a badge or a body kit. It is a character.»
Baumbick acknowledged that not every driver wants an emotional connection with their car, and that some simply want reliable transport. But he drew a clear line under Ford's past approach. «We are done building boring cars, and we refuse to build toasters on wheels,» he said. «We build vehicles for people who want to be part of the experience — who enjoy a road that changes, a corner that opens up, and a car with the soul to respond as they drive it.»
The WRC's new era is designed to deliver exactly the kind of manufacturer interest Ford's return represents. With capped costs and a shared safety cell, the championship hopes to attract more entries and provide greater exposure for brands. For Ford, the rally programme is intended to do more than simply win on Sunday and sell on Monday: the company claims lessons learned on the stages will feed directly into its road cars, making them more engaging to drive.
Ford's works return begins in 2028 with the Fiesta, before the all-new machine lands in 2029 — likely, as the company's own promotional language suggests, after a 40-metre jump off a dirt-covered crest.
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