Ford Motor Company and rally partner M-Sport recently launched their latest collaborative project, the Fiesta S2000 Rally Car. It's the first global rally car effort by Ford and the car is designed to compete in several international rally series. Those series include; the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC), FIA WRC Cup, Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC), Junior World Rally Championship (J-WRC) and the Fiesta SportTrophy International.

The Fiesta S2000 will become Ford's WRC entry in 2011 as new rules encourage B-segment entries from all the manufacturers. The 2011 World Rally Cars will be based on the current Super 2000 regulations with power coming from a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine with direct fuel injection. The global engine specification developed by the FIA will be available for use across a number of championships, starting with the WRC and World Touring Car Championship (WTCC) in 2011.

Fresh from the tuning guru's at M-Sport, the current Fiesta S2000 in S-WRC trim is powered by a naturally aspirated 1998cc inline 4 cylinder Duratec engine rated at 280 horsepower and 192 lb-ft of torque. The powerplant is mated to a permanent all-wheel drive system controlled by a sequential manual transmission.

In competition, the Fiesta S2000 has already scored several impressive wins, Mikko Hirvonen drove a Fiesta S2000 to a win in the IRC Monte Carlo Rally. Spain's Xavier Pons drove his Fiesta S2000 to a S-WRC Mexican Rally win on the dusty Mexican plains. M-Sport is anticipating over 50 Fiesta S2000's competing all over the world in 2010 and beyond.