BP Ford team director, Malcolm Wilson has told his retiring number one driver Marcus Gronholm that he if he ever wants to come back to the WRC in the future he only has to ask.
Gronholm put in a fantastic performance this season, winning five events in total and in the end he only missed out on the drivers' title by 4 points.
His form, in combination with that of Mikko Hirvonen, who drove the sister car ensured the 'Blue Oval' took its second consecutive manufacturers' title and the 212 points scored was the highest in Ford's WRC history.
"Obviously, we are really happy with the result. First and second [on Rally GB] – we couldn't have done any better. But sadly it wasn't enough to give Marcus the title we wanted to give him in his final year, so it's great to win in GB again but it is disappointing that Marcus couldn't clinch the Championship," said Wilson.
"More importantly he is going to be a big loss to the team. As everyone knows he has been leading the team and has helped us win two Manufacturers' Championships, which was a first since 1979 - so there is no question the records speak for themselves as to how he has actually helped us and made the team and everybody raise their game to where we are.
"So Marcus, you'll be greatly missed and you know that if you ever want to come back, you only have to knock on my door."
Despite losing Gronholm though, Wilson is feeling confident for 2008, when the outfit is strongly tipped to again field two Finns, with
Jari-Matti Latvala expected to be promoted to the ‘A' team to work alongside
Mikko Hirvonen.
"There is a lot of young talent out there and Mikko has won three rallies this year. My brief to him before we started this rally was to finish in the position you plan to be in next season. It's going to be a very interesting fight [in 2008]," Wilson summed-up.
