One of the most-popular cars sold overseas, the Ford Fiesta has entered the American car market with a big splash. With Ford finally inserting a potent EcoBoost engine into the Fiesta, in the process creating a car called the Fiesta ST, the Blue Oval is offering hot hatchback fans an affordable, entry-level sports car.

If you’re a serious racer, you need a more serious car. Ford’s European rally professionals, M-Sport, have just rolled out their latest rally-oriented Ford Fiesta. Called the M-Sport Fiesta R5, it’s all new, all-improved, and all race car.

M-Sport, located in England and working with Ford’s rally teams since 1996, has tuned Focus and Fiesta rally cars for both official Ford teams and privateers. Rocking anew red-and-grey vinyl wrap for 2013, the new Fiesta R5 sports a 1.6 liter EcoBoost engine under the bonnet. That’s the same engine found in the street-legal Fiesta ST, because the Fiesta R5 is based on the Fiesta ST.

M-Sport claims to already having 18 deposits on these performance rally machines, though they are understandably keeping actual horsepower levels hush-hush. The stock EcoBoost 1.6 liter makes 197 horsepower in the ST, though we imagine M-Sport easily doubled that for off-road competition. Designed for ease of use all over the world, the M-Sport Fiesta R5 is a natural progression for rally racers the world over.