Ford recently unveiled their new 2012 Ford Fiesta WRC Rally Car in its full livery at the Autosport International Racing Car Show in Birmingham, England.

This will be the Fiesta’s second year competing in the WRC and the race team is looking forward to building off of its success last year when it won the season opener and the last race of the season. It’ll be powered by a 1.6L Ford EcoBoost turbocharged powerplant and was prepared to go rally-racing by M-Sport, Ford’s long time partner. As you can tell by the livery, Castrol remains the team’s primary sponsor.

The successor to Ford’s Focus WRC, there are high hopes for the Fiesta this year and things could get mighty interesting against Citroen.

GALLERY: 2012 Ford Fiesta WRC Rally Car

Known for pulling wild stunts behind the wheel of his Ford Fiesta rally car, Ken Block had zero intention of rolling the high-powered machine five times. But that’s just what happened during a shakedown of the car ahead of the Rally of Portugal event this weekend.

Block, and co-pilot Alex Gelsomino were both admitted to hospital, after he lost control of the car in a ‘fourth-gear incident’ (read: going stupid fast). Both have since been released without injuries – although early reports indicated Block’s flatbill cap may never be the same.

The car, unfortunately, was damaged too severely for Block to compete in this weekend’s third-round of the World Rally Championship.

[Source: AutoSport]

See video of the crash after the jump:

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Ford’s new challenger for the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship, the all-new Fiesta RS World Rally Car, made its first global public appearance at the Paris Motor Show today.

The Fiesta RS WRC will make its competition debut in Rally Sweden, the opening round of the 2011 FIA World Rally Championship, on 10 – 13 February. Ford has been tight lipped regarding details of the car, but we do know that it has a 1.6L Ecoboost engine and will not be driven by Ken Block.

Gallery: Ford Fiesta WRC

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