Matthew Wilson is confident that he will be able to complete the World Rally Championship season in his M-Sport Stobart Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
The 24-year-old Briton has faced a tough battle to raise the required finances to contest all 13 rounds of the 2011 campaign to the extent he feared June’s Acropolis Rally could be his last of the year.
However, he told Wrc.com that his budgetary woes had all but been solved, even before his hugely impressive fourth-place finish on Rally Australia earlier this month.
“We’re just getting everything finalised at the minute but we should be okay for the final three rounds,” said Wilson. “We’re on the entry for France and we always knew we’d be doing [Wales Rally] GB. Spain was the one where we weren’t sure but that’s looking okay now, which is really good news.”
Wilson said his performance in Australia, where an error-free drive enabled him to equal his previous best finish in the WRC, would help his efforts to secure the funding to compete again in 2012.
“We’re working on next year already and this result can only help,” said Wilson. “Finishing one place off the podium after a very tough first day, probably my most difficult day of driving in the world championship because of the conditions and the fact we were using the hard compound tyre in cold temperatures, is really good and a great boost. I was also really chuffed for Scott [Martin, my co-driver] because it was his best result in the WRC.”
After 10 rounds Wilson is seventh in the standings, four points behind M-Sport Stobart team-mate Mads Ostberg. He remains confident that he can push for a podium finish before the end of the season.
“A podium was always the plan for this year,” said Wilson. “It’s going to be tough in France and Spain but if we can be in the fight for the top six on Rally GB and people around us have problems then you never know what could happen.”