The season could have started very well for Ford; Latvala was leading the Monte-Carlo Rally with raw pace, until he crashed out, handing victory to Loeb. Latvala tried to make up for this error by winning the next round in Sweden, but he and Ford would not win again until the tenth round at Wales Rally GB. Solberg showed reasonable pace at the start of the season, adapting to a new car but in the end would never finish higher than third position. Dani Sordo also made an appearance for the Ford team at Rally Argentina, replacing Latvala who had been injured during training, he showed good pace, but retired on the final leg.