Ford Returns to the World Rally Championship in 2028 with M-Sport and the WRC27 Regulations

Ford will return to the World Rally Championship as an official manufacturer in 2028, together with M Sport, built to the WRC27 regulations. Before that, in 2027, M Sport will compete with a modified Fiesta Rally2 fitted with the kit the FIA approved for that season.

Photo By Ford

Ford was already in the WRC, but now it returns with a factory program

Ford never strictly left the championship. M Sport, its partner since 1997, kept entering Ford cars since the official program ended at the close of 2012, so the new development is the manufacturer status, with Ford Racing involved directly and M Sport as the structure in charge of running it.

In 2027, the first year of the WRC27 regulations, M Sport will compete with an evolution of the Fiesta Rally2 fitted with the Rally2 WRC Kit. The scheme will be maintained in 2028, already with Ford Racing inside the program, before the new car both will develop makes its debut in 2029, inspired by one of the passenger models Ford is preparing for the European market.

Ford's return to the top category adds to another new development for the championship, since it is practically certain that the WRC will arrive in the United States, although nothing is official yet. Ford would arrive at that eventual date with manufacturer presence in four FIA world championships since 2028, the same year in which Ford Racing will become directly involved in the program with M Sport.

Photo By Ford

With the end of the Rally1 era, the FIA designed the kit to prevent the new grid from starting with too few cars. The package consists of new front fenders, a front bumper, and a rear aerodynamic element, with a maximum cost of 7,500 euros and a total weight set at 1,220 kilograms. The goal is to reduce the aerodynamic gap with the cars built for the WRC27 without turning the Rally2 into one of them, because only the bodywork is modified so both types can compete in the same category.

What holds back most manufacturers is a homologation condition. Only a constructor registered in the WRC can homologate the kit and, during its first year, it must contest every round with at least two cars per rally, that is, a full top-category program and not simply an update for Rally2 customers.

That is why M Sport is so far the only one that will develop it, based on the Fiesta Rally2. Toyota will not make a version of the GR Yaris Rally2 because it is already building its own WRC27, Škoda will keep the Fabia RS Rally2 in WRC2 as it considers the timeline too short, Hyundai is focusing its work on the evolution of the i20 N Rally2, and Lancia, whose obstacle is the obligation to run two cars at every round, does not currently plan to homologate it for the Ypsilon Rally2 HF Integrale.

The result for 2027 is a top category where Toyota, Project Rally One, and WRT Rally1 Spain develop their WRC27 cars, M Sport is the only constructor with a Rally2 WRC Kit, and the Rally2 cars from Toyota, Škoda, Hyundai, and Lancia race in WRC2, without the package that would allow them to fight for the overall classification. Ford is the fourth constructor to confirm a WRC27 car, alongside Toyota and the two independent projects.

The Rally2 cars with the kit will be able to race in the top category only in 2027 and 2028, since their eligibility ends on December 31, 2028, and from 2029 the grid must be made up solely of WRC27 cars.

Photo By Ford

M Sport without wins since Chile 2023 and with Ford as backing

M Sport has not won a WRC rally since the 2023 Rally Chile Biobío, when Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja took the lead on Friday and controlled the rally through Sunday in the Ford Puma Rally1. Its best recent stretch came in 2017, when it signed Sébastien Ogier, who had been left without a seat by Volkswagen's exit from the WRC at the end of 2016, after four consecutive championships. With Ogier, Tänak, and Elfyn Evans in its Fiesta WRC cars, the team won the drivers' and manufacturers' titles, with technical and financial support from Ford but as an independent structure.

Tänak left for Toyota for 2018 and Ogier for Citroën at the end of that season. Since then M Sport has rebuilt its lineup, alternating young drivers with more experienced ones. Teemu Suninen, Esapekka Lappi, Gus Greensmith, and Adrien Fourmaux all passed through its cars, and in 2022 the Puma Rally1 won on its debut with Sébastien Loeb and Isabelle Galmiche in Monte Carlo. Fourmaux moved up to Rally1 in 2024, finished four times on the podium, and then left for Hyundai. For 2026, the lineup is Josh McErlean and Jon Armstrong, runner-up in the 2025 European Rally Championship.

The agreement with Ford also closes the speculation of recent months about the team's future once the Rally1 era ends, which included a possible relationship with a manufacturer from China. For 2027 and 2028, the kit allows M Sport to fight for the overall classification with a base it already knows. The real performance gap against the WRC27 cars will only be known at the first rallies of 2027.

The WRC joins Ford Racing's programs in Formula 1 as a partner of Red Bull Powertrains, in the WEC with a Hypercar from 2027, in IMSA with the Mustang GT3, and in the World Rally Raid Championship with the Raptor T1+. From 2028, Ford will have manufacturer presence in four FIA world championships.