Ford Focus 2007 - WRC 3-Door

Insurance Group 17, 1 Previous Owner, This lot will be auctioned via Iconic Auctioneers, The Iconic Sale at the NEC Classic Motor Show 2025 on Saturday the 8th of November, NEC, Birmingham, B40 1NT. , Offered here, immaculate and on the button, is a Ford Focus M-Sport WRC car that competed in 17 rounds of the World Rally Championship from 2008 through to 2010, driven by Matthew Wilson, Gianluigi Galli, Henning Solberg and Valentino Rossi.It was debuted by Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud in March 2008 on the Rally Argentina but was forced to retire, however their luck was to change a month later on the Jordan Rally when they finished a very credible fourth. Gianluigi Galli/Giovanni Bernacchini took over the Focus for the next two rounds - the BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally of Greece and the Rally of Turkey - and in August, with Henning Solberg driving, it scored a seventh place on the ADAC Rallye Deutschland. For the following two rounds, on the Rally RACC Catalunya and Tour De Corse-Rallye de France, it finished in the top 15. The last round of the year was the Wales Rally GB and was the focus of much media attention, as Valentino Rossi, nine-times MOTO GP Champion, and Carlo Cassina bought the Focus home in a very impressive 12th place. Naturally, the number on the Focus was 46.In 2009, the car was driven to seven top ten finishes in the World Rally Championship by Matthew Wilson, son of M-Sport boss, and WRC driver Malcolm Wilson OBE. The partnership of Matthew Wilson and Scott Martin saw them finish consistently in the top ten with two fifth placings on the Rally Argentina and the Orlan Platinum Rally Poland.The Stobart VK Ford World Rally Team sold the Focus to a private team in Italy where it proved to be very successful on numerous national events, driven by Claudio Sora and Aldo Pressiani. In February 2010 Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin drove the Focus again and achieving a fine seventh on the Rally Sweden. It remained in Italy until 2019 when it returned to Ireland and did three rallies before, in 2022, it was decided to totally rebuild the Focus to its original WRC specification and look.Rebuild work was entrusted to former M-Sport engineer, Ronan McCrory (RMC Motorsport), with a brief to finish the Focus to its original Works specification and standard of preparation. The car was stripped down to the shell and painted in its original Ford Motorsport White by the renowned Liam Brennan of Cork. A seemingly endless list of new M-Sport parts were used in the build, including a new fuel tank from Proflex. With the car finished, it was decided that it should be returned to its instantly recognisable period livery from the 2009 Rally RACC Catalunya and these graphics were designed and printed in-house by M-Sport. Fittingly, it was organised that the Focus should return to the M-Sport Works for the graphics to be applied and at the same time it was given a check over by the M-Sport technicians prior to a re-acquaintance with Matthew and Malcolm Wilson. As an accolade to the quality and accuracy of the rebuild, they were happy to both sign on the inside of the roof. The car is complete with its Gold Book and a good spares package.More recently the car had a full check over by Neil Buckley at Dom Buckley Motorsport and subsequently took part in the German Eifel Rally, finishing all stages over two days, running impeccably. It's not often that a rally car is returned to the freshness of its original build with such authenticity, or gain the approval by one of the giants in the WRC world M-Sport and this superb WRC Focus is worthy of any WRC collection and would be welcome anywhere.