Rallying - Mexico blow for Cumbrian Wilson (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Rallying - Mexico blow for Cumbrian Wilson

11:36am Saturday 5th March 2011 in Sport

DISASTER struck for Cumbrian Matthew Wilson at the Rally Mexico.

Wilson got off to a flying start in the M-Sport Stobart team’s Fiesta RS WRC, reporting good car handling at the midday service and on track to equalling his best ever WRC result.

The 24-year-old Briton and co-driver Scott Martin moved up into a career-best fourth place at the end of Stage 6.

However, an electrical problem on Stage 7 meant a disappointed Wilson was forced to retire.

It is not yet known if the M-Sport Stobart team-mate will return to the rally under SupeRally regulations tomorrow.

Meanwhile, M-Sport Stobart debutant Evgeny Novikov is locked in a two-way battle for fourth place with Ford Abu Dhabi’s Jari-Matti Latvala at the end of the first full day of action.

Novikov’s fifth place is a remarkable achievement considering the 20-year-old Russian had completed no testing in the Ford Fiesta RS WRC prior to Mexico.

In what proved to be a difficult day for the Cumbrian-based squad, Mads Østberg also hit trouble when his Fiesta RS WRC suffered from a puncture at the start of Stage 3.

Despite losing nearly four minutes, the 23-year-old Norwegian battled back and climbed the WRC leaderboard to finish the day 11th overall.

Henning Solberg and co-driver Ilka Minor reported difficulties with the car set-up on the opening leg but steered clear of trouble during the repeat afternoon pass to finish sixth overall, 12.5 seconds behind M-Sport Stobart team-mate Novikov.

Wilson said: “What can I say? It’s been a really disappointing afternoon.

"The conditions were difficult before we retired – there were lots of loose stones on the road so we had to change our lines but everything was going well and the car set-up was good.

"Then on Stage 7 everything went wrong when the car stopped due to an electrical problem. We weren’t sure what it was at first but the team are trying to sort it now.

"It’s so frustrating after we’d worked our way up to fourth place and for this to happen. I don’t know what else to say, I’m just hugely disappointed.”