start of the 2012 season was in doubt due to the continued global financial crisis, but an announcement at the eleventh hour was enough to secure their entry. The Abu Dhabi sponsorship deal had finished at the end of the 2011 season, and the Fiesta RS WRC now featured a predominantly Ford blue and white livery. Jari-Matti Latvala remained in the Ford stable and was now joined by 2003 champion Petter Solberg, who replaced the Citroën bound Mikko Hirvonen. The season could have started very well for Ford; Latvala was leading the Monte-Carlo Rally with raw pace, until he crashed out, handing victory to Loeb. Latvala tried to make up for this error by winning the next round in Sweden, but he and Ford would not win again until the tenth round at Wales Rally GB. Solberg showed reasonable pace at the start of the season, adapting to a new car but in the end would never finish higher than third position. Dani Sordo also made an appearance for the Ford team at Rally Argentina, replacing Latvala who had been injured during training, he showed good pace, but retired on the final leg. Latvala ended the season in third place, 116 points behind Loeb. Solberg finished in fifth place behind his younger compatriot, Mads Østberg. Ford again finished second behind Citroën in the manufacturers championship, another disappointing result for the blue oval brand. At the end of the 2012 season Ford announced that it would be ending its "sponsorship" of the Ford World Rally team, thus ending a seventeen-year link with the M-Sport squad. Withdrawal from WRC as a World Rally Team On Monday 26 November 2012, M-Sport announced that sponsorship had been secured from the State of Qatar and that Mads Østberg and Nasser Al-Attiyah would be driving for the 2013 season. On Saturday 15 December 2012, M-Sport also announced that Evgeny Novikov and Thierry Neuville would be joining the Qatar M-Sport World Rally Team. Although the team will be rallying with the Ford Fiesta RS WRC, and may receive technical support from the Ford Motor Company, they will not be classed as the Ford World Rally Team. Gallery See also Ford Racing Ford TeamRS Ford Focus RS WRC Ford Focus (International) Ford Fiesta RS WRC M-Sport Ford World Rally Team Munchi's Ford World Rally Team References External links Official website Ford World Rally Team Official website Ford Abu