Wilson Seeks Maiden Points in Rally New Zealand

Stobart Ford's Matthew Wilson did not have a great weekend in Turkey, as the 23-year old Brit experienced a handful of problems to eventually score a lucky 7th place overall. Wilson had some steering problems with his Ford Focus RS WRC in Day 1 of the event and experienced several punctures throughout the upcoming few days, but paradoxically got closer to Dani Sordo in the overall classification after the Spaniard retired late in Day 3.

As he is now only 2 points behind Sordo in the drivers' standings, Wilson is determined to continue his point-scoring series in the WRC, hopefully inside the Top 5. He brought home points in 3 of the first 4 rallies of the 2010 season (including a 5th place in Jordan), being the highest placed Stobart driver in the overall classification (4 points ahead of Henning Solberg).

“It’s been a hard rally, the stages were really tough on Saturday and the punctures we picked up knocked us out of the battle with Federico Villagra and Kimi Raikkonen. I’m glad to have got to the end though and was fortunate (on Sunday) to move up a place after Dani (Sordo) crashed out. I’m hoping to repeat my top five positioning from Jordan when we head over to New Zealand next month,” said Wilson after Rally Turkey, according to WRC's website.

That might not be that easy for the Cumbrian driver though, as his past results in New Zealand don't exactly recommend him for a Top 5 result. The best result he ever scored in the aforementioned event is a 10th place, which happened 3 years ago. The other two times he competed in this rally, he had to settle for a 13th (2006) and 17th place (2008).

Wilson is therefore yet to score a point in New Zealand, as the points system in the 2007 season gave only the Top 8 drivers the possibility to make the scoreboard.