Malcolm Wilson says Mikko Hirvonen can still fight for victory on Rally d'Italia Sardegna despite starting day two 53.1s adrift of leader Sebastien Loeb in third position overall.
Hirvonen, from Finland, lost time on Friday’s penultimate run when he picked up a right-rear puncture on his Ford Fiesta RS WRC.
“I believe he can still get back into the fight by the end of today,” said Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team chief Malcolm Wilson. “Okay, it’s a bigger gap than we had in Jordan and it’s down to avoiding problems but he’s confident.”
Ford’s challenge in Sardinia was weakened when Jari-Matti Latvala retired on stage two with suspension and steering failure, the legacy of his prang on the opening test. However, he restarts on Saturday in line for at least one manufacturers’ championship point.
“That position can only get better so he won’t be experimenting on set-up or anything like that,” said Wilson. “He was happy with the set-up before [his crash]. Of course there will be things he can learn but there are no plans at the moment to do anything different to the car.”
Wilson confirmed that Henning Solberg, at the wheel of a M-Sport Stobart Fiesta, would not be restarting following his retirement due to engine failure on day one.
Credit: World Rally Championship (www.wrc.com)
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