Development of the Sierra RS Cosworth 4x4 and Escort RS Cosworth followed and although results weren’t forthcoming for him in WRC, in ’94 he finally won the British Rally Championship outright in an Escort. It was the fulfilment of a long-held ambition and made it easier to step back from driving and give the business his full attention.
‘So, we carry on. In August we went to Rally Finland with two privateers and we finished on the podium, third with Jarmo Kytölehto. It was a magical moment. The factory Escorts of Carlos Sainz and Bruno Thierry were nowhere. Ford got back in contact and the week before the RAC it was announced that we were taking on the programme. I’m really proud that we’ve now worked 25 consecutive years with Ford Motor Company providing cars for the WRC.
‘We didn’t actually need to bring in anybody else, we used the skills of all the people we had. In fairness, my technical director at the time, Christian Loriaux, had been pushing for us to get into GT3 racing. Of course, I was 100 per cent rally, tunnel vision, but the timing was perfect. It was a fantastic new challenge for us. The engine is Bentley and the main chassis structure, but we’ve done the rest. To then go and win in the second race of our first year was amazing.