PM:
Well I mean, you know, of course - they have been testing that car for nearly two years now. I am sure they will deny that fact, but it has been two years since it was first built. They do an awful lot of testing compared to the other teams' and they never seem to stand still. I would be very surprised if they didn't turn up and it wasn't in a winning position. They have got there existing car, which they can do back-to-back tests with. They know exactly where they are. They have an event winning car now and all they have to do is back-to-back tests with that. So they will know exactly where they are and they will know when to launch the car, whether it is at the end of this season or the start of next year. So as I said, I think everybody would be very, very surprised if it is not a car capable of winning - so yeah they are a major threat.
Ford is a major threat too. They are doing a superb job and they have a very competitive car now. Mikko [Hirvonen] and Marcus [Gronholm] are two exceptional drivers' and you know they are doing an exceptionally good job. It's a tough job to beat them all.
Q:
Are you looking forward to what will be a mini-championship at the start of 2007, before the WRC switches to running over two calendar years?
PM:
Yeah we will find out this week exactly which events are in it and what type of events they are, whether it is tarmac or gravel or snow. It will seem a bit strange doing nine events, or eight or nine events, whatever they decide on this week. It will be a very important year, because as it is such a short season, with eight or nine events, if you non-finish in one it becomes quite a big problem. Where as in a 16-event championship you have a little bit of security there, but on an eight or nine event championship you have to finish every event and if you can't win it, then you have to be on the podium to be able to take the championship in that short season. So yeah, it will be quite exciting and actually it will be nice to do a short season like that. It will be short and sharp with every result being so, so critical. I am really looking forward to it and maybe all of us in championship, including the
FIA and ourselves, might learn something from doing a short championship. Maybe it is the way to go and not have these huge 16-round championships. So everybody is looking at that and going into that with their eyes wide open. I'm looking forward to seeing how it works.
Q:
What do you think of plans to operate a rotation system with the WRC calendar in the future?
PM
That's a difficult one because as a competitor it is always nice to go to a brand new event with clean maps and clean pace-note books - it is quite an exciting challenge. It is very difficult, looking through the eyes of the organisers' though I don't really see how you could operate under that system. If you've got a big sponsor, like Greece or Finland or one of those events that have long, long term big sponsors, I am not sure how you could satisfy them and those sponsors by saying well: 'Excuse me but next year we are not actually in the championship but we are back the following year'. So it is a little bit confusing. The idea in principle as a competitor is fine, but from the spectators and especially the organisers' point of view, it must be a small nightmare. I would have thought, as an organiser, to balance all your commitments - with the hotels and the rally HQ and all that type of thing, which is something as a competitor we don't fully understand - must be very difficult. From the organisers' point of view it must be a problem. But it is something that they are working on and so it will be interesting to see what comes out this week in that new rotation system [when the World Motorsport Council meets on Wednesday].
Q:
Final question: you have no doubt been asked this many times before, but do you think the role of the co-driver in the WRC is still being overlooked by the media and the fans?
PM:
[laughs] ...Well that's an interesting one! It is true to say that you couldn't enter a rally and you certainly couldn't win a rally without a co-driver. It is one of those jobs - I like to be quietly efficient and melt into background, so it suits a lot of people like myself, just to keep out of the way. But, yeah, it is true to say, it would be impossible to do the job without a co-driver.
[pause - laughs again]. It is quite an interesting question...
Q:
Co-drivers are a bit like goal-keepers in football aren't they? Unless there is a penalty shoot-out or something, which is obviously quite topical at the moment with all the media attention on the World Cup, they are the unsung heroes?
PM:
Yeah, that is right - you can only lose a penalty shoot-out can't you? Yeah, that is true the unsung hero. Just remember a driver always says two things, he says: '
I won the rally' and '
We went off'.
Q:
Thanks Phil. Good luck in the second half of the season and thanks for your time - much appreciated.
