Stobart’s Wilson secures sixth on Spanish soil

Britain’s leading FIA World Rally Championship pairing of Matthew Wilson and Scott Martin produced their best ever result on Spanish soil this weekend with sixth place on the Rally de España.

The Stobart M-Sport Ford driver showed an impressive pace on asphalt in his Ford Focus RS WRC over the three days.

“Tarmac has never been my preferred road surface but I’ve worked hard this year to improve my times on asphalt and I think going one place better in Spain than I have before shows all the work has paid off," said Wilson.

As well as Spain being the fastest WRC round of the season the Stobart M-Sport Ford Rally Team were also faced with a unique mixed gravel and asphalt affair on the event’s opening day.

“We had an added challenge in Spain this year as Friday’s stages were a mixture of gravel and asphalt," explained Wilson.

"Apart from a spin, Day One was fine and I was happy with seventh place.

"Today we went from the fastest stage to the shortest stage so it was all about finding the right rhythm. But I enjoyed the stages. They flowed nicely and it’s good to finish the last tarmac event of the season with a healthy haul of points."

Ford Team Principal Malcolm Wilson said:

“Matthew has shown good progression on tarmac this year and has noticeably improved his understanding of the surface. He also did well to beat his personal best at this event and has been much more consistent with his driving this season.”

Monster World Rally Team’s Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino were the other nominated points-scorer for Stobart M-Sport Ford in Spain. The pair finished the event ninth overall – their best result in the championship so far.

“Ken has done very well to finish in the top ten – Spain is a notoriously difficult event and he has shown good pace in the [Ford] Focus RS WRC over the weekend. I’m sure both Ken and Matthew are looking forward to returning to gravel for Wales Rally GB and I hope they will both be able to demonstrate just how much they’ve improved this year when they contest the final round of the season," said team principle Wilson.

Matthew Wilson’s regular WRC team-mates Henning Solberg and co-driver Stephane Prévot were also entered under the Stobart M-Sport Ford banner in Spain but were behind the wheel of a Ford Fiesta Super 2000 where they finished eighth overall. The Norwegian driver will return to drive the Ford Focus RS WRC at Rally Wales GB in November.