WRC: M-Sport's new Fiesta S2000 takes shape

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M-Sport, the firm behind Ford's World Rally Championship programme, has announced that the first of its new Fiesta S2000 rally cars is nearing completion.

Three months after the project began, the first body shell is due to be finished this week, with assembly of the first complete car beginning soon afterwards.

Last month Ford announced that the Fiesta would replace the Focus as its World Rally Championship contender from 2011 onwards. Since then work on the base S2000 car has been stepped up, with a team of ten designers and engineers led by M-Sport’s Technical Director Christian Loriaux working around the clock.

Before making its WRC debut Wilson said the car would be ready to contest the proposed 2010 World Cup for S2000 cars. The new car has been built according to the new FIA technical specifications, which include a ban on the use of high-cost materials like titanium, Kevlar and carbon fibre.

The Fiesta is also fitted with a roll cage constructed to new stricter regulations, including an increase in the size of the tubes from 38mm to 50mm.