Malcolm Wilson is proud of his Stobart team

M-Sport director Malcolm Wilson particularly congratulated his Ford Stobart team, which concluded its 2007 year with a very strong performance in the World Rally Championship, just a few points behind Subaru.

The two teams, Stobart and Subaru, fought until the last rally of the season, even managing to achieve their first podium in the penultimate round of the year with Jari-Matti Latvala.

The latter, today promoted to Ford BP, the ‘parent’ team of Stobart, replacing Marcus Gronholm (recently retired), was able to develop his talent thanks to this team, according to Wilson.

« Stobart has, I think, played an enormous role in the development of Jari-Matti [Latvala]’s abilities, which has now allowed him to move to Ford, » stated Malcolm Wilson.

« Stobart should be congratulated for this and especially for contributing to the proper development of young drivers in the WRC, in which we play a major role in the career development of Jari-Matti and Matthew [Wilson – the team’s third driver in a few rallies in 2007]. »

Malcolm Wilson continues by discussing the 2008 season, which he thinks and hopes will be even better than 2007, notably thanks to the arrival of Gigi Galli. This already very experienced Italian driver will replace Latvala next season.

« The team can, rightfully, be proud of the work accomplished. It was one of the finest performances by a private team in WRC. » He added.

« For a private team, delivering such strong performances and reaching the podium allows it to acquire the necessary foundations to continue our ascent to the top. »

Matthew Wilson will continue his development in 2008 with the team on several rallies, while Gigi Galli will be permanently accompanied by Henning Solberg, already a Stobart driver this season.