Wilson rues missed opportunity

Malcolm Wilson has described Petter Solberg’s exit from the lead of Philips Rally Argentina as another missed opportunity to claim victory in the FIA World Rally Championship powered by Nokia.

Ford’s factory drivers have led on the last two WRC rounds but twice failed to go the distance. Solberg was leading in South America by a margin of more than 20s when a broken steering arm stopped his Fiesta RS WRC a little more than five kilometres from the end of stage four.

“It’s a great opportunity lost again to be honest so we’re disappointed,” said Ford team boss Wilson. “But we’re confident we can get the car fixed for tomorrow and we’ll continue and put up a good fight again like in Portugal and get back into the points with Petter.”

After five stages, Solberg’s stand-in team-mate Dani Sordo is a fine third overall, 13.1s adrift of leader Sebastien Loeb with one stage of day one remaining. His performance has impressed Wilson due to his lack of car knowledge.

“If you look at his pace he’s certainly found his place in the seat,” said Wilson. “He’s driven really well and has been very sensible. He’s eased off when it’s been tricky but when he’s felt confident and been comfortable in the car he’s shown his pace. He’s only 13s off Sebastien so who knows what can happen. There is still so far to go on this event.”