All Stobart drivers take points from Jordan

The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford rally team is celebrating the fact that all three of its drivers finished the Jordan Rally in points scoring positions.

Norway’s Henning Solberg and co-driver Cato Menkerud were the team’s best finishers in fourth, while Matthew Wilson and Scott Martin scored their best ever WRC finish together one spot back in fifth.

Despite retiring on Friday, Gigi Galli and co-driver Giovanni Bernacchini took one point by finishing eighth today.

“I came to this rally aiming for a fifth place and am delighted to have got fourth, said Solberg. “I knew it was going to be a tough rally and I had to use my head. It would have been easy to push hard from the start and make a mistake but I needed to get to the finish without doing anything wrong. This plan has worked because now I have more points and everything feels good with the car and especially with the next rally quite close, it will help a lot.”

Wilson and Solberg swapped order on Sunday after the Briton stopped to change a puncture on the first run of the Jordan River stage (SS19). “We were disappointed about the puncture this morning but we remained focused and I am really happy with fifth place on this new and difficult event,” said Wilson. “My fitness has played a key part and has helped a lot with my concentration and performance on the stages. This was a hard rally but this finish is now our best result so far this year.”

Galli battled his way back to eighth after going off the road and retiring on the rally’s opening day. “We are definitely pleased with this result but we were disappointed with the problem on Friday, he said. “On Saturday I really had to concentrate again and we found a good feeling and a good rhythm with the car and managed to set three fastest times so for sure I must be happy with this progress. Today was quite tough and the long stage was a difficult way to finish the rally but now I have much more confidence going into my home rally in Sardinia.”