Ford honours M-Sport

Ford honours M-Sport achievement with Focus rally car

Ford of Europe officially recognised M-Sport's record-breaking points scoring feat in the FIA World Rally Championship with a presentation before this weekend's Rally of Turkey. Malcolm Wilson, managing director of the British-based team which operates Ford's world rally programme, received a specially commissioned framed award to commemorate the team's 50th consecutive points-scoring finish on last month's Cyprus Rally.

Ian Slater, Ford of Europe's vice-president of communications and public affairs, made the presentation on behalf of the company's management team. All 50 points results were scored by the Ford Focus RS World Rally Car and it is a feat which has never previously been achieved in the sport's history. The record-breaking run began on the 2002 Monte Carlo Rally and nine drivers have contributed to the tally.

Slater said the record was a remarkable historical achievement by Wilson and the whole M-Sport team. "Ford has been deeply involved in motorsport for more than 100 years. While we're proud of our heritage, we're mindful of Henry Ford's famous quote that 'the only history that's really important is the history we make today'.

"While winning is the important thing, and we always aim to do that, consistency and commitment are vital and that's why Ford is so proud of the team's achievement. Nobody has achieved this landmark before and it's unlikely to be matched for some time to come, so we wanted to take this opportunity to thank everyone in the team, past and present, who contributed to this success. This milestone is the result of great teamwork from the people at M-Sport," he said.

Slater also paid tribute to the drivers and co-drivers involved in creating the record. Along with current drivers Toni Gardemeister, Roman Kresta and Henning Solberg, the function was also attended by ex-drivers Carlos Sainz, Markko Martin and Janne Tuohino and former co-drivers Nicky Grist, Luis Moya and Michael Park.

"The other star contributor is, of course, the Ford Focus itself. I think every driver has praised its driveability, ruggedness and durability and inside Ford we're pleased that Malcolm's '50' reflects the quality that we've built into the Focus road car," said Slater.

He added that while the new SupeRally rules, introduced to the WRC this season to allow retired competitors to rejoin rallies with time penalties, had added to the team's points total, the record-breaking run would still have been achieved under the old points system.

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