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Ford thinks diesel

A Ford works team could return to the BTCC as soon as 2004 and its weapon of choice would be the diesel-engined Focus TDCi

Ford's UK division is considering the move. "It's something that's been suggested and thrown around internally as an idea," said its spokesman. Ford last contested the series in 2000, when its Mondeos were dominant and Ford man Alain Menu won the drivers' title. "We never wanted to exclude ourselves from ever going back into the BTCC," continued the spokesman.

Ford representatives are known to have had meetings with BTCC organiser TOCA and there have also been preliminary approaches to teams, including Ray Mallock Ltd, which guided John Cleland to the 1995 title and Laurent Aiello to the 1999 crown.

BTCC rules do not yet cater for diesels, but series boss Richard West has acknowledged that should a manufacturer approach him with a serious proposal for a long-term diesel BTCC programme, appropriate regulations would be formulated.

Current rules are for 2-litre normally-aspirated petrol engines producing around 270bhp. Diesel competitors would be allowed to use turbochargers, but power output would be restricted to take into account the greater torque produced by turbodiesels.

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