Estonia’s Markko Märtin took 2nd place for Ford in the Rally of Great Britain in Cardiff at the weekend, with Ford team-mates Carlos Sainz of Spain and Brits Colin McRae and Mark Higgins taking 3rd, 5th and 6th  respectively.  Norwegian Petter Solberg (Subaru) stole the lead from Markko Märtin on the final day of the rally to take his maiden victory in the world championship.  Märtin said: "We tried hard but Petter responded even better. Of course I would like to have won but I think Petter deserved it. It's been a great rally for both of us."

Ford Rallye Sport’s results at the final round created rally history as the team became the first to score points at every round of the FIA World Rally Championship since the modern era of the sport began in 1997.

It also confirmed the Focus RS as the most reliable car in the 14-round series, the Ford Rallye Sport team claiming a remarkable 80% finishing record during the season.

Top honours went to Markko Märtin and Michael Park who claimed their best ever result by finishing second after a tense final day fight with Petter Solberg.   Märtin, the narrow leader overnight, could not fend off Solberg through the foggy Resolfen and despite clawing back many seconds on the second stage, the Norwegian pulled ahead again through Margam to win by 24.4sec.

"I've had a perfect weekend," said Märtin. "Early this morning I just didn't push hard enough and that's my fault. I don't have enough experience yet of fighting to win. You have to push hard but hopefully we can do the job next year. I understand now that you can't afford to play safe. I didn't take any risks today and that made the difference. Petter drove at 100% and I was at 99% but we've built the year gradually and this is a wonderful end."

McRae finished 5th in his last Ford event and double world champion Carlos Sainz claimed third place in both the Rally GB and the 2002 WRC drivers championship.  Sainz praised Markko Märtin's performance: "Markko made no mistakes and both he and Petter will win rallies, and in Markko's case I think that will be soon. I'm happy with my result. This is always a hard rally but this year has been slightly easier due to the good weather and repeated stages. There's always less chance of making a mistake when you've driven a stage once already".

Final positions in the Rally of Great Britain