On 15th February 2006, Changan Ford Mazda Automobile Corporation Limited) and Formula Racing Development (FRD) formally announced the establishment of Changan Ford Racing. This new racing team ran two FRD modified Ford Focus racing cars in the 2006 China Circuit Championship ( CCC) 2000cc Class Touring Car Series. This splendid cooperation was the first time for a true works racing team to take part in CCC. This participation propelled the already rapidly developing racing activity in China to another level and certainly could be marked as one of the major milestones in Chinese major circuit championship.
With the prosperous development in the last three years, CCC, the top circuit racing event in China , has been acclaimed by a large number of automobile manufacturers and racing fans and its influence is still increasing constantly. Advanced racing technologies from Hong Kong, Macau, Japan, European Countries and other places around world have been introduced into this series especially in the 2000cc Class which allows the participation of Hong Kong and Macau drivers. It brings new driving forces to the racing activities in China with speed, strength, operation efficiency and car performance fully displayed.
The new racing team, Changan Ford Racing, established by FRD and Changan Ford, obtained the service of Kenneth Ma, 2005 CCC 2000cc champion and Henry Li, the 2005 CCC 2000cc 2 nd runner-up to drive in the 2006 season. The first year team won first and second place in the last two races to close out the season. It was also awarded the runner-up in the team Championship in 2006 CCC. This was undoubtedly a result contributed by Changan Ford's commitment of providing the required engineering support and resources to the team and by FRD 's field/operation experience and its execution in modifying the Ford Focus 2.0 cars. Thanks to its own potential as a racing car, Ford Focus is definitely the thesaurus for performance. Kumho Tire, a major tire manufacturer, has been supporting various racing activities around the world also signed on to become the official tire supplier for Changan Ford Racing.
In 2007, Changan Ford made two major decisions. First, the team will use the new two-box vehicle and increase the cars participating in the series to three dedicating the third car to a young Chinese driver under the Young Driver Development Program. Henry Li again was signed up to drive for the team and provide the leadership to two young Chinese drivers, He Xiaolok and Zuo Xiaolong. Xiaolok was the second driver competing for the 1600cc class Nissan Team in 2006 while Xiaolong was a young 17 years old just finishing a season of Formula Campus racing. FRD recognized their potential and signed them up for the strongest team in CCC.
BP and Castrol , two of the biggest names in oil and lubrication industries, have also decided to throw in their support behind the race team. The technical support and excellent product performance under race condition from these two companies will further enhance the competitiveness of the team.
After struggling during the early part of the season, the team won the third race in ZH with convincing fashion. At the end of the season, the team won the team Championship and He Xiaolok, while scoring the same point as Ken Lok, the Honda driver, had to settle for second place in the driver Championship due to one less second place finish. This amazing season also completed Ford's target of achieving both CCC and the WRC Championship.
In the 2008 season, the team realizes that more improvement is needed in order to stay one step ahead of the competitions. So it is maintaining the 2007 driver line up but will be making some adjustments to the mechanical parts for reliability improvement.
