by Rob Wilkins
The current tyre regulations may be dangerous, but there is unlikely to be any change this season, that's the view of
Stobart Ford's
Matthew Wilson.
The Rally Argentina at the end of last month exposed a key problem with the new rules, with many drivers complaining there was a real safety risk, including four-time world champion
Sebastien Loeb [see separate story -
click here].
Indeed despite appalling weather conditions, with torrential downpours and lots and lots of mud, competitors were left with exactly the same hard compound tyre as if it had been dry and sunny.
Speaking exclusively to
Crash.net Radio recently Matt agreed that in extreme circumstance it might be prudent to allow the drivers' to make cuts.
"I think he [Loeb] has got a point," said the Brit, when asked about the matter. "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.
"But it is always going to be difficult. 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."
