Those of you who watched Ken Block’s Gymkhana 8 to the very end will have seen a tantalising glimpse of a suspiciously racy looking Focus RS. We thought it was a rallycross car, and now Ford has confirmed our suspicions by announcing Block and Andreas Bakkerud will campaign a pair in this year’s World Rallycross Championship.

Details are scant, but Ford claims upwards of 600bhp and a 0-97kph time of less than two seconds for the RS, which is the work of Ford Performance, Hoonigan Racing (Block’s own outfit) and M-Sport (the folks responsible for Ford’s World Rally Championship entries).

Block said he was pleased to have official factory backing for the 2016 season. “Have you seen the car that they’ve created for me to go race in?” he added. “My mind was blown when they showed it to me in Dearborn a few months ago. I absolutely cannot wait to get behind the wheel and start testing.”

We’ll see the RS in the metal at the first round of the championship in Portugal on April 15. Think Block and Bakkerud will give Loeb, in his first full rallycross season, a run for his money?