Monday, 29th September 2008

Matthew Wilson wins the 2008 Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally.

Stobart Ford's Matthew Wilson won the 2008 Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally on Saturday against a star-studded field.

Driving a 2005-specification Ford Focus RS WRC Wilson and co-driver Scott Martin dominated the event to take the spoils by over one and a half minutes.

A raft of former World Rally champions including Bjorn Waldegard, Hannu Mikkola and Ari Vatanen all joined Wilson in this momentous event to pay tribute to the late Colin McRae - 2005 World Rally champion and one of the sport's all time characters.

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The pair had a faultless run in their Ramsport-prepared Focus RS as they won all four spectacular forest stages around the Perthshire region in central Scotland.

A fifth stage was due to run but an accident to fellow Stobart Motorsport historic competitor Jimmy McRae caused the test to be cancelled. Both Jimmy and co-driver Andy Richardson were uninjured.

“What a fantastic event and it is great we could come out here and win it in memory of Colin who was a driver I always looked up to as a young competitor coming into the sport,” said Wilson Jr.

“I remember being taught how to drive in the back field in a MK2 escort by Ari Vatanen when I was about eight and I never thought I would get the chance to compete against him one day or any of the other big names here.

“The organisers, officials and everybody involved in making this a special event did a great job and it must be said that everything was handled very well and everyone had a lot of fun.”

With the event complete Wilson and Martin now head to Catalunya for their regular duties with the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team as the FIA World Rally Championship heads into its twelfth round this weekend on RallyRACC Catalunya – Rally de Espana.

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