In the lead up to Hyundai and Toyota’s showdown for the manufacturers’ title in Japan later this month, we’re looking back at some of the greatest manufacturer fights in World Rally Championship history. We asked you to vote for your top-five, and this is what you picked at number three.
There wasn’t much that could stop a Citroën with the name ‘Loeb’ etched on the side, but Ford managed it. And not just once, but twice.
OK, technically Loeb himself always had the better of the ‘blue oval’ – even when he was forced to miss the end of a season after a mountain bike accident – but in the manufacturers’ race, Ford and its Focus was good enough not just to take the race to Citroën, but to beat it at times too.
Earlier this week we looked at Citroën’s battle with Peugeot as the two PSA stablemates entered into something of a civil war for WRC supremacy in 2003, but if there’s one marque Citroën constantly found itself up against it was Ford.
That says as much about Ford (and M-Sport’s) longevity in the WRC as it does the ferocity of their battle, but nonetheless it was these two brands which shaped the WRC in the late 2000s and early 2010s.
After stealing the mantle from Peugeot as the WRC’s manufacturer to beat, Citroën was on a roll with its Xsara WRC as it wrapped up three manufacturers’ titles in its first three seasons as a full-time competitor from 2003-05, with lead driver Sébastien Loeb claiming two drivers’ titles to boot.
Ford had long been a contender at the front of the world championship, but opportunities had gone begging. Think particularly Colin McRae’s huge shunt in Rhondda (which damaged Ford’s title quest vs Peugeot as well as Colin’s own personal ambition in 2001), or the clear potential in the Focus WRC in its debut 1999 season before a wretched end to the year for McRae.
With McRae, and team-mate Carlos Sainz, joining Citroën’s ranks for 2003, Ford opted for a lineup of youth in Markko Märtin and François Duval. Märtin proved a rally winner and even an outside bet for the drivers’ title in 2004, but fielding youth was never likely to earn Ford its first manufacturers’ title since 1979.
Markko Märtin was developing into a real contender but Ford's lineup lacked experience in 2003-05
Both Märtin and Duval leaving for Peugeot and Citroën respectively in 2005 further buried Ford’s hopes. But a brand-new Focus, based on an all-new version of the road car, was on stream for 2006, and Peugeot’s withdrawal from the WRC suddenly made a two-time world champion a free agent.
The game was on.
Marcus Grönholm signed with fellow Finn Mikko Hirvonen installed as his team-mate, and even more encouragingly for Ford, Loeb was only driving a privateer Kronos Xsara as Citroën stepped back for a year to develop its all-new C4 WRC.
Two victories to open the season in Monte Carlo (aided by a Loeb mistake) and Sweden lifted hope that Loeb’s reign may be over, but a devastating run of eight wins from 10 booked Loeb a one-way ticket to world title number three, that not even the aforementioned mountain bike-sustained injury could deny.
Loeb waltzed to the 2006 title despite missing four rounds, although Ford did snare the manufacturers' title
Loeb’s absence though, combined with Hirvonen’s superior performances relative to Citroën’s second drivers Xevi Pons and Dani Sordo, ensured Ford finally got its name back on the manufacturers’ trophy for the first time in 27 years.
With Citroën returning as a fully-fledged manufacturer in 2007 as it introduced the C4, the fight was even more intense. Loeb and Grönholm’s drivers’ title battle was an epic, littered with sublime battles like the 0.3s decider in New Zealand, that eventually went Loeb’s way by just four points. But once again Ford proved stronger in the manufacturers’ race due to having a stronger second driver in Hirvonen – the final winning margin standing at 29 points.
Citroën and Ford were by far the strongest contenders, but they were about to become the only contenders. Subaru had still been competing but was set for the exit door at the end of 2008, as was Suzuki which had only joined at the start of that season.
Suddenly this battle of the heavyweights almost became a battle by default.
Grönholm’s retirement for 2008 elevated Hirvonen to team leader status as he was joined by Jari-Matti Latvala, but this new alliance couldn’t beat Citroën which won out by 18 points. It was a similar story in 2009, although Hirvonen pushed Loeb all the way in the drivers’ race. 2010 was then a Citroën whitewash as it won by 119 points (a figure exaggerated by a change in points system).
Citroën remained victorious when World Rally Car regulations changed for 2011
The battle was reset for 2011 as a change in technical regulations scaled World Rally Cars back to smaller cars with less engine displacement; Citroën picking the DS3 as its weapon to take on Ford’s Fiesta. Both cars proved competitive, but Citroën’s all-star (but at times toxic) pairing of Sébastiens Loeb and Ogier carried it to a narrow manufacturers’ title win.
Hirvonen switched allegences for 2012 and joined Loeb at Citroën which only strengthened its hand over Ford – the French marque emerging victorious by 144 points.
That would however prove the last time Citroën claimed any silverware in the WRC. Volkswagen’s arrival (led by Ogier) in 2013 redefined what success in rallying should look like as in the Polo R WRC’s four years in the championship, it was never beaten to a world title.
Any narrative between Citroën and Ford therefore fizzled out as they were both ultimately beaten, although Ford did secure the 2017 manufacturers’ title through another change of regulations which beefed up the World Rally Cars.
We can all be thankful, though, for the competition they did produce through some lean years of the WRC, where if it wasn’t for the ability to run second-string teams, the entry lists wouldn’t have been looking really rather paltry.
