Camilli buoyed by Portugal result

Eric Camilli’s career-best fifth place at last weekend’s Vodafone Rally de Portugal has revitalised his M-Sport squad, according to team boss Malcolm Wilson.

Camilli put a troubled start to his rookie World Rally Car season behind him to deliver a superb result in only the 11th gravel rally of his career. He finished ahead of out-of-sorts team-mate Mads Østberg and relieved the pressure created by crashes in each of the opening three rounds.

M-Sport’s signing of the inexperienced Frenchman raised eyebrows but Wilson was delighted with Camilli’s Portuguese pace, which included a third fastest stage time.

“He’s shown the potential that we felt he had when we took him on board and his performance this weekend has brought a real enthusiasm back to the team,” he said.

Camilli admitted fifth was beyond his expectations. “We didn’t expect that. Huge confidence, good times and a good feeling with the car. We’ve made a good step to set up our car better, especially the brakes and the front and rear differentials,” he told wrc.com.

“But I think the biggest things I improved this week were to drive fast in the ruts during the second pass of stages and to improve our pace notes during the recce.

“We’re developing the pace notes rally after rally and now I have a lot more distances between the corners that I didn’t have before. That helps me to find some tenths of a second under braking,” explained Camilli.