One to Buy: ex-works / Jorge de Bagration 1972 Ford Capri RS2600 Gr.2
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Between 1971 and ‘72, Ford’s legendary Capri RS2600 was the class of the European Touring Car Championship field. Six ETCC wins from eight outings in 1971 were followed by an astonishing eight from nine in 1972 as Ford saw off Division 3 rivals Schnitzer and Alpina with their E9-based BMWs. Capri man Jochen Mass emerged as the star of the season and won that year’s Driver’s crown.
1972 also saw Ford finish first and second in the Touring class at the Le Mans 24 Hours and, with nine wins from ten races, Capri driver Hans-Joachim Stuck won the inaugural Deutsche Rennsport Meisterschaft (DRM).
Ultimately, it took the might of BMW’s new Motorsport division, an E9-based CSL homologation special and the mid-season arrival of a radical ‘Batmobile’ aero kit to de-throne the Capri from its perch.
Currently on offer at the William I’Anson showroom in Gloucestershire is a veteran of that successful 1972 campaign: chassis GAECMB19997.
Following its career as a works machine with Ford’s factory Touring Car squad based in Cologne, chassis ‘19997’ was sold to Jorge de Bagration and campaigned by the Escuderia National CS team in the 1973 Spanish Touring Car Championship which it won.
The car later did some racing in the UK (during 1976) before heading out to Australia where it was displayed in the York Motor Museum for nearly 20 years. Since then it has undergone a sympathetic restoration and is widely regarded as one of the most original ex-works Capris in existence.
