Jul
14
Matthew Wilson: Tough time on Rally Bulgaria
Just back from Rally Bulgaria, and it was a very tough event.
It was great to see a World Rally Championship round held somewhere new for a change though. We enjoyed having Poland on the calendar last year, so we were looking forward to another rally in Eastern Europe again this year. New rallies are good for keeping the WRC calendar fresh and exciting. It helps keep all the drivers on their toes too – nobody knew what to expect from the stages so we were all in the same boat.
I was slightly disappointed with my overall result. I hadn’t driven on tarmac since Spain last year, and after so many gravel rounds this year it took me a lot of time to adjust to the change of surface. I was really pleased for our new team-mates P-G and Jonas – considering it was their first outing in a Ford Focus they did extremely well and I hope they’ll get a chance to compete under the Stobart banner with us again soon. They’re brilliant guys and extremely focused.
It turned out to be a very, very fast rally – quicker than most other tarmac rounds and a lot faster than Catalunya. It was also quite an unusual event as the road surface was so dirty, which is not typical of normal European tarmac round. Over the first two days the stages reached over 2100 metres, making it the highest WRC round held in Europe and similar to the sort of altitudes we experienced in Mexico earlier this year. There were parts of the stages that were very technical and some sections were rough with broken up asphalt, which made it difficult to interpret. Scott [Martin] did a great job with the pace notes though and I felt I was starting to get used to handling the car by the final day. It’s just a shame it took me so long to adjust after driving on gravel for so long.
Now I’m back at home in Cumbria and preparing for Finland. I’m spending some time this week looking at the data from Bulgaria with my engineers to see where I can improve my performance for the three remaining tarmac rallies. Fortunately, the next tarmac rounds should be easier than Bulgaria – we know the stages from Germany and Spain and I’ll know how to get the best from the car next time round.
I’m really looking forward to Finland, it’s the spiritual home of rallying and there’s a huge buzz all week, it’s definitely one of the best rallies of the championship. It’s always a real test with the massive jumps and impacts on landing, but I’ve always managed to finish inside the top ten there so it’s been a good rally for me in the past. Naturally the Finns do very well at this event, and it’s usually dominated by local drivers who know the stages like the back of their hands, but if I maintain a good pace throughout I’m confident I’ll be able to improve on my eighth place finish from last year.
Mikko [Hirvonen] won Rally Finland last year and as it’s also his 30th birthday when we’re there, I expect he’ll be hungry to win it again. The rest of us will have to chase him as best we can!