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Wilson shines in Welsh gloom |
Matthew Wilson enjoyed a fine start to his home round of the World Rally Championship as the Stobart VK MSport driver ended leg one of Wales Rally GB in a solid sixth place.
The 20-year-old, who goes into the weekend having scored points in the previous two events in Japan and Ireland, was able to survive challenging conditions that awaited the crews in the Welsh forests with torrential rain, strong winds and heavy fog making the stages far from easy.
Wilson was in his element as he posted top ten stage times on all but one of the six tests to end leg one as the leading Stobart driver in sixth place after Jari-Matti Latvala and Henning Solberg both fell foul of the conditions.
The final stage in particular, run in darkness as evening closed in was amongst the most difficult of the season so far with the conditions leading to limited visibilty and Wilson admitted that it had been one of the trickiest stages he had faced in his career to date.
"This morning was very tricky because sometimes the visibility was fine but other times you really couldn't see anything which made it hard to pick the right braking points," he said. "Things got better though as the fog began to clear and it was really fun on that last stage this morning.
"In the afternoon there was so much rain which made things very difficult and that last stage is one I will never forget, that's for sure; it was one of the most challenging I have ever done especially with the fog making it almost impossible to see. I just cannot explain how bad the visibility was; it was just a matter of damage limitation.
"I'm feeling quite good at the moment and it's great to be in a points scoring position but there is still a long way to go and a lot of tricky corners left in this rally. My times today were very encouraging and it's great to be sixth after the first day and even better to have stayed out of trouble today."
Wilson also drew praise from team boss and father Malcolm Wilson – who admitted he was hopeful that Matt's team-mates will still be able to fight for manufacturers' points on leg two.
"Matthew has done a great job today and has put in a very solid and impressive drive in extremely difficult conditions; a very good start to his home event," he said. "The weather conditions, fog and extreme rain have led to atrocious driving conditions but he has coped remarkably well and made no mistakes today.
"Jari-Matti was also doing well and in a strong fourth position until his problem on the last stage. Hopefully tomorrow both Henning and Jari-Matti will be able to salvage some manufacturer points for the Stobart team. They are not out of the fight yet."
