The Ford company has committed to remaining a force within the World Rally Championship in the years to come. Its successful association with M-Sport, which designs and builds the motorsport aspects of the Ford Focus RS, will also continue over the coming seasons.

Although the mutual agreement between both entities reached its conclusion at the end of the 2007 season, there is no doubt regarding their intention to continue the partnership, the details of which are currently set for negotiation.

"We will be working on the new contract in the coming months and the WRC will remain at the forefront of Ford's motorsport programme," declared Ian Slater, Vice-President of Communications and Public Affairs for Ford of Europe.

Looking at the Ford team's last WRC campaign, which merited the Constructor's Championship crown for a second consecutive year, Slater could only speak of positive results overall.

"Last year was a great season for us," he related. "We continued the incredible run of point-scoring WRC finishes, which now stretches back to 2002. Ford has scored points for the last 92 rallies - that shows our consistency and reliability. That was further shown by the fact that the Ford team did not have one mechanical retirement in 5,600 kilometres of flat-out competition."

Such a tally allows Ford to approach the 2008 championship bid with great anticipation, in addition to the promising driver line-up.

Mikko Hirvonen will be taking on the role of team leader following Marcus Grönholm's retirement, while Jari-Matti Latvala joins the Ford team after transferring from Stobart, where he consistently displayed improving results and great potential over the year.

"We are all very excited by the new season. We have some driver changes, with Mikko leading the team, but look at what he did in Wales when he won after leading from start to finish. And to back him up, we have Jari-Matti Latvala - who also had an exceptional run in Wales. It's a great line-up," Ian Slater enthused.