Q&A with Malcolm Wilson

With factory Ford drivers Jari-Matti Latvala and Mikko Hirvonen holding first and second places heading into the final day of Rally Australia, Wrc.com spoke to the Blue Oval team chief about his hopes of winning and the plan of action on day three.

It’s been another successful day for your team and drivers. How are you feeling right now?

“Everything has gone to plan today. We thought that Jari would pull out an advantage because of his road position, which he did, and he drove fantastically on the first run this morning. We did the vital part this morning, which was taking time out of Petter [Solberg] because, to be honest, we were concerned about him. He had a good road position but both our drivers took time out of him on the first loop and that took away some of the pressure.”

The pace wasn’t quite the same this afternoon. Did anything go wrong?

“This afternoon we took two spare wheels in each car, plus the fact there was not the need to push the same. It was vital to keep the cars in good shape for tomorrow.”

Can you think about winning the rally yet?

“You never know what will happen, particularly with the 30-kilometre stage tomorrow. Nobody has driven it competitively before, it’s narrow and tricky. We can only throw it away and really it’s in our hands. Everybody has done a really good job today and we should be able to hang on to it.”

In terms of the championship, Mikko has the most to gain by winning. Will he be allowed to get ahead of Jari-Matti?

“There’s no question if it stays like this we want Mikko to win the rally but the main priority is to keep both cars running. We’ve been in this situation before [in New Zealand in 2008] when we lost both cars on the last day.”

How will the gap be shrunk - naturally through the road cleaning effect or by other means?

“We’ve got to get the first loop out of the way then we’ll review it after we’ve done the first loop.”