Ford plans to use guidelines

After the retirement of the Citroën drivers, Ford takes the double at the Rally Australia. Malcolm Wilson, team principal, admits that he will give instructions to help Mikko Hirvonen get back to the lead in the Championship.

Published on 09/09/2011 à 12:24

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Ford seems to be getting back on track Rally from Australia. After the two Citroën drivers, successive leaders of the event, retired, Ford can see the prospect of a double, the Flying Finns having a good lead over Petter Solberg (Citroën) at the end of the first stage.

Malcolm Wilson admits that instructions will certainly be in favor of Mikko Hirvonen. “We have to see how it goes tomorrow,” explains the Ford team director. ?We saw what happened today and we clearly want to maintain this result. It is clear that even if Mikko is second at the end of the day tomorrow, we will think about the Championship for Mikko, there is no doubt about that. »

This decision is also completely accepted by his teammate Jari-Matti Latvala, who understands the challenges of such an approach. Mikko Hirvonen is only 36 points behind compared to 96 points for his teammate. “I lost my chance to fight for the Championship in the spring and I said afterwards that I would do my best to help Mikko in the Championship”, commented Jari-Matti Latvala.