the middle of 1998, Ford chose M-Sport to design and build the new Ford Focus WRC. The new car appeared in 1999 with a new driver, Colin McRae, and immediately sprang to the attention of the world press by recording fastest stage times on its first event, the Monte Carlo Rally. However, the two cars entered were excluded from the event due to the use of an illegal modified water pump. By the third event — the Safari Rally in Kenya — the team had scored its first WRC victory. A month later, an on-form Colin McRae made it two in a row at the Rally of Portugal. With a move to new premises at Dovenby Hall, M-Sport expanded rapidly, employing over 170 people. In 2006, the Wilson-led Ford team took the manufacturers' World Rally championship title; it was the first time Ford had achieved this feat in 25 years of competing. Since then, M-Sport Ford won seven FIA World Rally Championships, with 61 victories and 262 podiums. For the 2008 season, the company employed the driving talents of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala in their challenge for the World Rally Championship. The 2009 season saw Mikko Hirvonen and Citroën's Sébastien Loeb fight a closely fought battle throughout the year which ended with Loeb the victor by just one point. M-Sport World Rally Team (2010-present) Beside the Ford entry, the company also ran two cars on behalf of the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team. Matthew Wilson and Henning Solberg were the two drivers competing in 2010. On occasions, a third car was run with a "guest" driver. Customer teams M-Sport supplied cars, personnel, servicing support and/or other entry services to the following customer teams to compete in the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers: Stobart VK Ford Rally Team (2006—2009) Munchi's Ford World Rally Team (2007—2011) Ferm Powertools World Rally Team (2011) Monster World Rally Team (2011) Team Abu Dhabi (2011) Adapta World Rally Team (2012) Brazil World Rally Team (2012) Jipocar Czech National Team (2013—2016) Qatar World Rally Team (2013) Lotos Team WRC (2013) RK M-Sport WRT (2014) FWRT s.r.l. (2015) DMACK World Rally Team (2016) Yazeed Racing (2016) WRC Academy and Junior WRC Other series and championships The company ran the one-make Fiesta Sporting Trophy rally series, which it launched in 2006, and the Fiesta Sporting Trophy International (FSTi) series. M-Sport started preparing Bentley Continental GT3 for Blancpain Endurance