GW:
Not as yet. Obviously the team are desperate to try and sort something out. I am going to be reverting back to last year's car, although the team is going to up spec it. I don't have a problem with that. It is an Evo 9 and people harp on about so and so has a three year old Subaru or a four year old Subaru. But the Evo 9 is three or four years old as well. Obviously this year's car was a brand new one and we are going to have a year old car. But it doesn't make much difference. It will still be a good car and we are hoping to have a small test before the Isle of Man. But I have got quite a hectic schedule outside of the British championship. It is just a case of trying to fit it all in.
Crash.net:
Will you be reverting to the older car just for the Isle of Man or for the rest of the year?
GW:
For the rest of the year I think. We will be three events into a six round championship then
[Wales Rally GB counts as two events - Ed]. I haven't really spoken about that with the team as yet. Obviously I am not bothered about the UIster, Trackrod and Wales yet. The next one is the Manx and we need to do what we did last year. We are in the same position as 2007 - with a win and a dropped score. We need to re-address the balance straight away on the Isle of Man. We go there - it is not pressure as such, but we know what we have to do. It is just a case of getting on and doing it - and making sure we win.
Crash.net:
Last year you led home a Mitsubishi 1-2 on the Isle of Man. You will be looking for the same sort of thing I take it.
GW:
Yeah, if I am honest, that kind of result would be really nice for the team. It is really hard on the team as well. Phil [Morrow – my team-mate] made an error on the first stage and we didn't have a good weekend at all. It would be nice for the team to have something like that and I think they need it a little bit. But at the same time, things like this always pull people together too. When you have a bit of a drama or a travesty like this, you have got to all pull together tighter and get on with the job. I think it will only make us stronger. We have just got to get our heads down and fight back.
Crash.net:
What is the Rally Isle of Man like as an event?
GW:
Very demanding. It is similar - but different to the
Jim Clark. It is a very high speed tarmac event. It is very challenging with the narrow lanes and bumpy tracks - you don't tend to have a high percentage of stages like that on the Jim Clark, where as on the Isle of Man you get lots of them. It is a long event - high mileage. Again we will be testing our transmissions to the full. Let's hope that it holds out.
Crash.net:
How big a role could the weather play there?
GW:
To be honest the weather plays a role whenever you are on a tarmac event. It is all about tyre choice ultimately and whether you get it correct. The Isle of Man is notorious - as is the Jim Clark. It can blow in and out as fast as you like. The weather is changing hourly. Sometimes you can just guess it lucky. I remember the Isle of Man in 2006 when I was battling with Mark Higgins. He was in a Subaru Group N car and I was in a S1600 car fighting for the lead and we kept coming out of the service to the re-fuel and looking at each others tyres and shaking our heads, because we both had the opposite on. That time Mark managed to get it right more than I did. But as soon as it rains - or as soon as it rained with a 2-wheel drive car, you are always struggling. It is a bit of a guessing game. You can put a lot of knowledge and effort into it, but ultimately on the Isle of Man it can change so quickly that a bit of luck is needed.
Crash.net:
This year as well as doing the BRC you have got that programme with the JAS Motorsport-Honda. What can you tell us about that?
GW:
We have obviously done one round in Australia and we were going really well but we had a small problem. We are going to Russia next for the IRC. We are looking forward to that. The car went really well there last year and I think we have moved the car on a lot from last year with a lot of small changes. I am hoping for good things. The terrain is very similar to Finland and I have always gone very well there. Needless to say I am looking forward to it. We are going to Finland afterwards too and the filling in the middle of the sandwich if you like is the Manx. We come back from Russia and go to the Manx and after the Manx it is Finland. We are going to be pretty busy but I am really enjoying both programmes. Okay we have had some bad weekends recently, but I am sure the good times will come back.
