The Ford Escort celebrated its 50th anniversary

1968, Ford Europe is launching production of a sedan which will once again highlight the Dearborn (Michigan) brand in motorsport. In full domination in Endurance and 24 Hours of Le Mans with the GT40, the European branch of the American firm will find in theEscort, an ideal working base for competing in national and international rallies, as well as certain circuit events.

Already a winner in several renowned events (London-Mexico 1970 with Hannu Mikkola, RAC Rally in 1972 with Roger Clark), the Escort arrived in WRC from 1973 and the RS1600 version quickly established itself in Finland and again at the RAC, an event which it would dominate until 1979.

In 1975, the RS1800 came into action and, following in the footsteps of its big sister, continued its harvest of success at the RAC. From 1977, the Acropolis or the Safari fell into the hands of the Escort with Björn Waldegård, one of the most prolific drivers with the car and the first driver to win a title with the Escort in 1979, the year in which the first was awarded. WRC Drivers crown. Mikkola and Ari Vatanen also had a string of victories, the latter also becoming world champion in 1981.

Dry spell and return to Group A, then WRC

The 80s will not mark the history of the Escort, nor of Ford, in the WRC. After the attempt to develop a Group B on the basis of its bridgehead, it was finally the RS200 project which saw the light of day. But the car will only really be entered for one season (1986) and will not be able to showcase its qualities.

We had to wait for Group A, and in the wake of the two and four-wheel drive versions of the Sierra RS Cosworth, to revisit the Escort name. The RS Cosworth arrived in the WRC in 1993 and, notably with François Delecour and Massimo Biasion, quickly built up a track record, Delecour failing to finish second in the championship behind Juha Kankkunen.

Les années suivantes seront moins brillantes, malgré un succès de Delecour au Monte-Carlo 1994, et la version WRC exploitée par M-Sport et principalement confiée à Carlos Sainz and Juha Kankkunen will achieve only two additional victories, bringing the total of WRC first places for the different models to 31, the majority for the RS1800 version.