GW:
Obviously the speed is nothing to do with the drivers! But I think the car is very good and I think the drivers' Mitsubishi have this year, in myself and Gwyndaf, are doing a good job. It is definitely proving to be the thing that everybody is looking at and even from the start of events we can put our speed on straight away and can go out and lead when we want. That is what is important.
Crash.net:
Obviously Mark Higgins leads the BRC standings at the moment, but it is all a bit complicated due to those dropped scores?
GW:
It is. I don't have any more options available to drop any scores. My two scores are taken into account now, Mark's aren't and if you take it back we both have two wins. We shall have to see how it pans out.
Crash.net:
Generally speaking in terms of the WRC do you think it is going forward?
GW:
Good question. I think they definitely need to reduce the number of events. I think the cars that they use are definitely the right cars because it is the forefront of technology. We just need to get some more manufacturers' interested in the championship and that is a hard thing to do. It is a fantastic sport. It is a great spectacle. But we need to be taking it to people, not expecting people to come to us. That is not a problem – but it is an area that could be improved on perhaps on some events. It is a very family friendly sport and easily accessible and you can tie it in with a nice holiday if you want to go and watch one of the rounds abroad. All of us need to work on a few areas and try and be a little bit more helpful in trying to encourage people to come to the sport because it is fantastic. Once you see it you needn't say anything about it, but it is getting the people to see it.
Crash.net:
Marcus Gronholm will retire at the end of this season. How much a blow is that for the WRC, because potentially
Sebastien Loeb could have it all his own way in 2008?
GW:
It is not a blow. People have to retire and the sport has to move on. I know that Mikko [Hirvonen] has got a good turn of speed under him and he has been doing a fantastic job as a number two driver. But he has been a very strictly controlled driver as a number two and he has done a great job. I think [Ford boss] Malcolm Wilson would back that up. If he was given a free rein I think he could be up there with Sebastien as well. I don't think there is anything to be scared about.
Subaru are pulling there socks up. It is one of those things - people will step up to the mark.
Crash.net:
Final question, obviously
Suzuki steps-up next year. You have had close ties with them in the past and competed in the J-WRC with them. What do you think they can do?
GW:
I haven't had a great deal of involvement at all with that project. But it has been delayed and delayed and delayed. We will have to see what happens.
Crash.net:
Do you stay in touch with Suzuki?
GW:
Yeah, I stay in touch. I speak to ‘Monster' [Suzuki boss, Nobuhiro Tajima] now and again when I see him on events. It is just very difficult to try and get a drive in a World Rally Car at the moment. I think there are very strong links with this Peugeot engineer, Michel Nandan at Suzuki now - he has taken two of his old drivers' effectively to do the events [in Corsica and GB] and so we will see exactly how they perform.
