Ford Fiesta R2 rally car revealed, no Fiesta RS planned

Developed by UK racing firm M-Sport and Ford, the latest Fiesta R2 is powered by a direct-injection 1.0-litre three-cylinder turbocharged engine.

For the race-only R2, the three-pot motor develops 125kW of power — up around 20kW on the most powerful version of that motor available in a production Fiesta.

The 1.0-litre engine replaces the 1.6-litre four-cylinder Zetec motor used in Fiesta R2 from 2010 until now. That engine, according to M-Sport, developed a maximum of 120kW of power at 7500rpm and 182Nm of torque at 5700rpm.

When the Fiesta R2 takes to the field, it will be the first vehicle to take advantage of a recent regulation change that allows 1.0-litre turbos to compete in the R2 class.

According to Ford, around 250 copies of the previous generation Fiesta R2 are currently active in competitions around the world.

After the unveiling of the Fiesta R2, Raj Nair, Ford's vice president in charge of product development, told Car Advice that are currently no plans for a Fiesta RS model to join the company's high-performance range of vehicles.