Ford Fiesta RS WRC rally car specs released ahead of season debut

We now know exactly what the Abu Dhabi World Rally Team will be packing when they take on this year’sWorld Rally Championship. Ford has officially let loose a volley of information on the team’s new Fiesta bruiser. Built by M-Sport, the minds responsible for some of the quickest machines on tarmac or off, the rally-spec Fiesta is loosely based off of the same S2000 car that recently took gold at the Monte Carlo Rally in 2010. M-Sport quickly set about reducing weight and strengthening all the components necessary to compete on the global stage.

Under the hood, there’s a steroid-riddled version of the FoMoCo 1.6-liter EcoBoost four-cylinder engine with 300 horsepower and 331 pound-feet of torque. Even with the added burden of lugging around a full-time all-wheel drive system, the machine manages to hit the scales at a fairly feathery 2,645 pounds. A 12:1 steering rack, massive Brembo brakes and an X-Trac six-speed sequential transmission are all standard kit as well.

Look for the new Fiesta to be helmed by the likes of Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala when the racer takes to the rally stages of the WRC later this year.

Paris 2010: Ford Fiesta RS WRC

The FIA World Rally Championship is shaping up to be particularly interesting in 2011, and the new-for-2011 Ford Fiesta RS is a big reason why. The Blue Oval’s latest dirt-spitting racer will contest its first race at Rally Sweden in mid-February, but the Fiesta S2000-based rally car made its debut this morning at the Paris Motor Show.

In typical WRC fashion, the blue and gray Fiesta RS is all gaping intakes, massive flares and skyscraping wings, and needless to say, it looks The Business. Motivated by an EcoBoost-branded 1.6-liter turbocharged four of undisclosed output, the four-wheel-drive RS will get a shakedown run on Spain’s gravel roads next week, though Ford says it’s already conducted about 3,000 kilometers worth of testing with various engines.