Crash.net:
That should make fitness quite important shouldn't it?
MW:
It will for sure, definitely. We have been doing a lot of training leading up to it. A lot of it will be about keeping yourself hydrated as well and it will be important to drink a lot of fluids. That is the main thing.
Crash.net:
Once the Jordan Rally is over, a third of the season will have been completed. How do you assess the year to date for yourself?
MW:
Frustrating is probably one word. If we had finished the rallies that we could have this year we could have had eleven or twelve championship points and could have been well up the order. As it is though, we haven't. Sweden was unlucky with the problem with the car and again the problem in Argentina with the suspension. We have just been a bit unfortunate. Luckily I haven't made too many driver errors. It is always nice to get those points on the board and it is a bit frustrating that we haven't got them. But at least we have been in those sorts of positions and looking to get those results. That is the main thing.
Crash.net:
What has it been like working with Scott Martin again as your co-driver?
MW:
It has all clicked in really well. No problems at all. The first event would be difficult for anybody coming in. Monte Carlo is not the easiest one to start with, but once he got that one out of the way it got better. Sweden is a rally we both enjoy and after that it just went from strength to strength. It has been a good start. But like I say a little bit frustrating in that we haven't got those results that we could have had.
Crash.net:
What's been the most difficult thing to adjust to this year so far?
MW:
The tyres have been a new challenge, especially in Argentina. Up until then it hadn't been too much of a problem. The tyres worked really well in Mexico and in Sweden. Then coming into Argentina we got a completely different rally to what we thought. On the recce we had hot temperatures and it was dry. Then come the rally we had lower temperatures and a lot of rain. So, the stages were very muddy and you were using a really hard compound tyre. It made it very, very difficult. I think if we get a few more rallies like that one then it is going to be very tough.
Crash.net:
Sebastien Loeb was quoted as saying in Argentina that the new tyre regulations are quite dangerous and that in special circumstances, like there was on that event, drivers should be allowed to cut the tyres. Do you think he has a point?
MW:
Yeah, I think he has got a point. But it is always going to be one of those hard things. It was decided before the season even started which rallies we would run a soft compound and which rallies we would run a hard compound. I don't think the drivers really got any input into that, which is a bit of a shame. It proved very, very difficult being on the equivalent of a tyre you would use in somewhere like Greece in those sort of conditions and in one stage it was dangerous. But if we had had the weather that we had in the recce - 30 degrees, dust and dry conditions - it wouldn't have been a problem. I think it changed so much it took everyone by surprise.
Crash.net:
Do you think there is a need for the
FIA to make some tweaks to the regulations?
