The Ford World Rally Team, also known as the Ford Motor Co. Team prior to 2005, is Ford Motor Company's full factory World Rally Championship team. In its current form, it has been a competitor since the 1997 season, when Ford Motor Company's motorsport arm selected the Malcolm Wilson Motorsport company to run its factory team, entering the Ford Escort World Rally Car. The new team took their first victory in the 1997 Acropolis Rally. The team Malcolm Wilson Owner and team director Partners BP Castrol Michelin Icepeak Teng Tools Trade partners Sparco OZ Racing Recaro M-Sport Reiger Racing History 1978 season Ford would end the 1978 season with a win for Hannu Mikkola on season ending Lombard RAC Rally, at the hands of an Escort RS1800, he would be followed home by Björn Waldegård and Britain's Russell Brookes, all in similar machinery. 1979 season Ford had a long and successful history in rallying, winning the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1979 with the Ford Escort RS1800 and drivers Hannu Mikkola, Björn Waldegård and Ari Vatanen. 1980–1984 seasons Ford did not officially enter any cars for these seasons after winning the 1979 World Rally Championship season, they instead concentrated on development of the stillborn Ford Escort RS 1700T. However, Ari Vatanen did win the 1981 drivers championship in a Rothmans liveried Ford Escort RS, this was run by David Sutton Cars, and not an official works Ford World Rally team. 1985 season The Boreham-based team were again missing from the 1985 season; the Ford Escort RS 1700T programme had been cancelled in 1983, and a new car was required to compete with Group B rivals like the Audi Quattro S1 and Peugeot 205 T16. Lessons learned from the RS 1700T programme were being used in the development of Ford's new rally weapon, the RS200, which would not hit the stages until 1986. 1986 season Having spent time away from the sport developing the Ghia styled RS200, Ford made a return to the World Rallying stage at the second round in Sweden. Ford's new RS200 featured four-wheel drive, a turbocharged Cosworth BDT engine generating 450 bhp and a new blue and white Ford Motorsport livery. Ford employed the services of Swedish drivers Stig Blomqvist and Kalle Grundel, but they would each only be entered on four rallies, in a season overshadowed with tragedy. Grundel achieved a podium finish on the RS200's