Former Ford WRC works driver,
Markko Martin was at the Rally GB last weekend, to give his former team-mates at the M-Sport-run outfit a pat on the back, after they clinched the manufacturers' championship in New Zealand.
Speaking to
Crash.net Radio on the Sunday, prior to the finish of the Welsh event, the final round in the 2006
FIA World Rally Championship, he said that he that it was interesting to be back.
“Yeah it was great [to see some familiar faces from the WRC, especially at Ford]. It made sense to come and see the world champions. It was interesting to see them again. The
BP Ford World Rally team has been very close for many years and been second [in the manufacturers'].
“Finally they have managed to clinch the title and for sure it is good for them. All their efforts have finally paid off.”
Martin himself has had a quiet year and while he has done some events, including a few rounds in the Danish TouringCar Championship and a couple of rallies, including the WRC candidate event in Portugal and the Cork Rally in Ireland more recently, there is no doubt, mentally speaking, that he is still dealing with the events on the 2005 Rally GB, which claimed the life of his friend and co-driver, Michael Park.
Asked about the event in Ireland though, Martin noted that while he enjoyed it and was pleased to finish second, it wasn't easy: “It was good [to get back in a rally car again], but it was quite hard work to come back after a long time – especially as it was straight into mixed conditions, a tarmac rally and very fast roads,” he added. “It wasn't very easy to make a comeback. But it was great to be in Ireland and to do the rally there.”
As for the future, Martin's plans remain uncertain and while there is some speculation about a programme with Mitsubishi, he refused to discuss it anyway whatsoever: “I don't have any plans on the racing side,” he summed-up, when asked about what he might do in 2007. “I am finished with the World Rally Championship and now I will try to move on [from what happened here last year].”
