Juha Kankkunen by then lost the title to Mäkinen. Kankkunen stayed with Ford for the 1998 season with Belgian driver Bruno Thiry as his new teammate, after Sainz had opted to re-join Toyota. Ford was already moving resources into developing the new Ford Focus WRC and the team's last year with the Escort WRC was winless. Kankkunen drove the car on the podium on seven occasions, and both Ford and Kankkunen finished fourth in their respective championships. For the 1999 season, Ford signed the Subaru World Rally Team star Colin McRae and Kankkunen moved to replace him at Subaru. Kankkunen's first year
Graham McRae changed to require the cars to carry Can Am sports car bodies, McRae took a year to revise the GM3 and unsponsored he couldn't pay for competitive engines and privateer competition against the Haas or Paul Newman teams was hopeless. In 1978, he won his fifth F5000 title, the Australian Drivers' Championship. In 1972 McRae, Malcolm Bridgland of Malaya Garage, and car designer Len Terry built a new F5000. The car was initially designated the Leda LT27 following Terry's designs. In mid-1972 McRae and London insurance broker John Heynes bought out Bridgland and set up a United Kingdom company McRae