Ford considers WTCC
Ford is considering a World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) programme if attempts to keep the marque in the World Rally Championship fail. Ford remains confident that it will secure some form of Focus WRC campaign for next year, and sources suggest that Ford's rally partner M-Sport has come up with the sponsorship to ensure a full 16-race programme
If there is an insufficient budget next year, though, Ford Team RS director Jost Capito admitted to Autosport magazine that a touring car project would be a viable alternative with the all-new WTCC series, which will replace the European Touring Car Championship in 2005, the preferred choice.
"Ford wants to stay in rallying but in the end it is a business decision," he told this week's magazine. "On the touring car side, Ford is already there - in Germany we've been in touring cars for many years. We have teams with the Focus who are fighting with BMW head-to-head and they are interested in continuing. I think that will happen anyway.
"The European Touring Car Championship is growing and as a manufacturer you can't ignore that. There's a good opportunity for customer motorsport there. It would have to be factory-supported but it's an obvious alternative [to WRC]. If we can't do WRC then we say, 'Okay, what are the alternatives?'. This would be one of them because we have the racing car anyhow."
Ford of Europe's chief executive officer Lewis Booth has told Autosport that a final decision on the future of the manufacturer's WRC programme will be taken within the next two to three weeks.
Why joker laps are entering the mainstream
This season the World Touring Car Championship looks certain to bring joker laps to a circuit-racing world championship for the first time. And it need not be the daft gimmick people may think
The making of the world's best tin-top driver
He has been overshadowed at Citroen for the last three seasons, but the retirement of Yvan Muller means the world says farewell to one of touring-car racing's finest talents
Volvo's plan to conquer the WTCC
Volvo gave the World Touring Car Championship a major boost when it announced it would enter the series, but its ambitions don't stop there. JACK COZENS examines its programme, the S60 and what its arrival means for the WTCC
The WTCC's Nordschleife gamble paid off
A 17-car field on a 13-mile track - the WTCC's Nurburgring Nordschleife gamble wasn't going to be easy to pull off. STUART CODLING explains how the series made it work
Insight from a Nordschleife master
World championship racing returns to the Nordschleife this weekend. STUART CODLING got a lesson from one of the legendary track's few masters
Becoming world champion for £100k
The 2012 World Touring Car champion says he never had the money to race cars. Yet 2015 is his 11th season in the WTCC. He talks STUART CODLING through his journey from motorsport fan to paid professional - for little more than £100,000
Can the vanquished champion bounce back?
The World Touring Car Championship kicks off in Argentina this weekend, and Yvan Muller bids to reclaim his throne from Citroen team-mate Jose Maria Lopez. He talks to STUART CODLING
The top 10 WTCC drivers of 2014
Citroen had no rivals during the 2014 World Touring Car Championship, and 'rookie' Jose Maria Lopez hit the ground running to emerge as a worthy champion. PETER MILLS rates the field
