Watch Ford's Forthcoming Focus RS Tear Up The Tarmac Sideways

We’ve only just wrapped our heads around the gigantic leap forward the new Focus ST represents over the old one, but it’s already time to start thinking about its forthcoming stablemate: the RS. It’ll at last be revealed on 3rd February this year, but until then, Ford is happy to tease us with this video, which features a prototype version of the car being hurled around.

The expectation is for it to run the 2.3-litre Ecoboost engine found in the new Ford Mustang, with anything up to 350bhp. We’re still not sure if all that poke will be sent to just the front wheels or if a four-wheel drive system will feature on the RS, although the former seems to be the likelihood. After all, the old RS shoved nearly 300bhp through its front boots, and limited-slip differential tech has moved on a lot since then.

Don’t be fooled into thinking that all the sideways action is a definite sign of four-wheel drive presence. Look carefully at the teaser and you can see the odd bit of handbrake yanking from the driver. There’s also the fact that the front-wheel drive ST is capable of similar antics with the right pilot behind the wheel, as you can see from the video above.