The Eddie
Stobart Motorsport team step-up to the WRC this year, after two years in the British Rally Championship. The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally team will contest all 16 events, with upcoming rally star,
Matthew Wilson leading the outfit.
Wilson Jr. will make history when he arrives in Monte Carlo for the start of this year's championship. The 18-year-old will become the youngest driver ever to start a full programme of events in the sport's global series.
"This is an amazing opportunity that people like the Stobarts and Steve Perez, from VK, have provided me with," he told the official Stobart VK website. "I certainly intend to make the most of it. Monte Carlo is a really tricky rally to start the programme.
"Unfortunately, I was too young to do the recce last year, you have to be 18 to drive on the roads in France - I was only 17. I've heard all the stories about Monte, about the changing road conditions and things like that. I think one of the hardest things will be the first time I come across a patch of ice when we're on slick racing tyres. I will have to slow to virtually walking pace, there'll be no grip at all. Pyschologically, that's quite tough - you have to keep telling yourself that everybody else is doing the same thing. The minute you try to push a bit harder on the ice, you're likely to go off the road. It's going to be very different to the events I've done before, but right now I just can't wait to get started."
Triple Belgian champion, Pieter Tsjoen meanwhile will make his sole appearance for the Stobart VK team this weekend on the Rallye Monte Carlo, when he drives the second Ford Focus alongside Wilson Jr.
Red Bull Skoda:
[Gilles Panizzi, car #11 and Andreas Aigner, car #12]
The Red Bull Skoda team will kick off their assault on the WRC with Andreas Aigner and Gilles Panizzi piloting the energy drink backed Fabia WRC's.
