Daniel Oliveira might have missed out on an FIA World Rally Championship point in 2012 but that hasn’t stopped his team boss from praising his efforts.
Manfred Stohl, a podium regular in 2006, runs Oliveira’s Brazil World Rally Team and was in Spain when Oliveira completed his second season in the WRC earlier this month.
“His stage times [on the final day] were very, very nice,” said Stohl. “We still have to work on the small mistakes and the concentration but it is improving. For sure the economic situation is not so easy [in Brazil] also but I am hoping we can continue somehow. Even if it’s not a top, top programme, the most important thing is for him to continue, otherwise everything he has done so far will be a waste.”
Oliveira, whose Ford Fiesta RS WRC is co-driven by Carlos Magalhaes, said: “We made a great progress this year and we will work hard for a comeback next year.”