Ford boss: Hirvonen put in drive of his life.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally team director Malcolm Wilson has paid tribute to his number one driver Mikko Hirvonen following the Finn's win at the weekend on the Rally of Turkey.

Hirvonen eventually took the victory on the eighth round in the World Rally Championship by 7.9 seconds and the ten points he earned puts him back in the lead in the race for the 2008 drivers' title, three points up on multiple world champion, Sebastien Loeb.

Mikko's win along with Jari-Matti Latvala's second place in the sister Focus RS WRC07 also allowed the M-Sport-run outfit to extend its lead over Citroen in the manufacturers' championship, increasing the margin from just 2 points to a more healthy 9.

"Tactics won in the end and what our two young drivers did this weekend was nothing short of special. It was a brave decision to drop time on Friday but it proved the right one," Wilson Sr reflected. "I'm proud of the drivers and the team and it's a great way to end the first half of the season. It was the drive of Mikko's life and it's fantastic to lead both series going into the mid-season break. Days don't get much better than this."

The result was also special as not only was it the team's first 1-2 finish of the year, but it also saw the 'Blue Oval' become the first manufacturer since the launch of the WRC to notch up one hundred consecutive points' finishes [see seperate story].

"I have to say it's definitely one of my best days since running the team. To see the work put in back at base and here, it's great. Everybody knows we were expected to win in Greece. The guys and team have learned a lot since the Acropolis," he added. "This is the dream result. It's great to go into the second half of the season leading the Championship.

"It's also important for Ford to get the 100th point-scoring finish too. This is something which started in Monte Carlo, 2002. To get the 100th finish is testament to the strength of the Focus."

Asked about the final stage - the repeat run through the long 31.03 kilometre Olympos test, where Sebastien Loeb appeared to be a real threat to snatch the win, Malcolm conceded it was very nervous waiting to see how things would turn out.

"After 11 kilometres it wasn't looking very good. I knew the guys were going to try and look after the tyres - Jari-Matti in particular, of course. But when we saw Sebastien do the times he did, it was worrying," Malcolm continued.

"When they got to the 16 kilometre split and Seb had not taken more time out of them I relaxed a bit. I kept flashing back to the previous split on the first time through the stage to see that Mikko was on course.

"Then he dropped four seconds and Colin came on rally radio to say he'd had a puncture and we had no idea how much he'd lost in that last sector. That was all a bit worrying and a bit stressful then."

As for the season to date, Wilson reckons they are doing better than he thought they would be at this point of the year: "We are ahead of schedule. I didn't expect to be here at the mid-point. I always said the guys would be better in the second half of the season. It's a bonus to us and I guess we'll be sweeping the road in Finland!" he concluded.