Matthew Wilson confident for 2011

Matthew Wilson believes that the extended test mileage he is accumulating with the new Ford Fiesta WRC will put him in a strong position next year.

Wilson is due to take the wheel of the Fiesta again at a test between the upcoming World Championship rounds in France and Spain, which is when Ford factory drivers Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala will also sample their 2011 car for the first time.

So far, Wilson has accumulated more than 2000 kilometres in the new Fiesta, making him almost certainly the driver with the most experience of the new generation of World Rally Car.

Having tested the Fiesta on both gravel and asphalt, the Englishman is convinced that his knowledge will put him in a strong position next year.

“It’s definitely going to help in 2011,” he said. “I don’t know what everyone else has been doing, but I’m probably one of the people who has driven the new car most and that’s been really useful. It can only help me for next year.”

So far, Wilson is yet to conclude a deal for 2011, as Stobart has not confirmed its plans. But the 23-year-old, who has driven on the World Rally Championship full-time since 2006, feels confident for the future - particularly after beating ex-Formula One World Champion Kimi Raikkonen to sixth at his last outing on the Rallye Deutschland last week.

“That was a really good experience and I’m definitely looking forward to Japan next,” he said. “At the moment there’s nothing in place for next year yet, but that’s obviously something we’re working on very hard and the testing mileage we’re doing with the Fiesta means that we should be pretty familiar with the car at the start of the season.”

Rally Japan was the scene of Wilson’s best result on the World Rally Championship, when he finished fourth in 2007.