For 1979, the Ford/Zakspeed squad was expanded. Harald Ertl left Schnitzer/BMW and joined Heyer for a two-pronged assault on Division 2. Heyer retained the "Mampe" colours but Ertl brought sponsorship from Sachs Sporting and his car was painted in blue/white as shown above. There were also various Zakspeed guest entries for Dieter Quester, Klaus Niedzwiedz, Walter Nussbaumer, Jochen Dauer plus Zakspeed Escort drivers Sigi Mueller and Hans Soldeck were given outings in the Capri. It is presumed these 'guest' drives were try-outs for a permanent drive in the third and fourth car in the 1980 season.

Heyer and Ertl began in spectacular style with a 1-2 in the first race at Zolder in March. Seven more Division 2 victories followed but they were split between Heyer and Ertl. In the Division 1 category however, Porsche had no serious opposition and Klaus Ludwig's Porsche 935 won every race, easily taking the overall championship away from Ford. Heyer was Divsion 2 champion but only second overall, trailing Ludwig by 38 points.

Concerned by the clear run that Porsche had in the upper category, Ford undertook to introduce a Division 1 version of the Capri with an uprated 1745cc engine for the September round at Hockenheim. If it was a success, the dominace of the Porsche 935 would be compromised and may allow a Division 2 Capri to take the overall title. The car finished third and convinced Ford to enter both divisions the following year.