EXCLUSIVE
Q&A:
Malcolm
Wilson

“From a personal point of view, everybody knows Mikko and I have always been very close. He was very influential in our two world championships. I’m really sad in one sense to see him go but on the other hand I’ve got to thank him for the job he did for Ford. When he left the team at least he was fighting for the world championship and leading the rally. But I would like to thank him for his contribution during the last however many years and wish him all the success in the future but hopefully not too much! Mikko and Jarmo [Lehtinen] have been great team members, great people to work with. It’s fair to say we had our emotional moment on Saturday [in Wales]. Let’s be honest we both knew what the situation was. We would like him to come back and see everybody here because the way the rally ended didn’t go as planned. Hopefully we can get him back to see goodbye to everybody here at M-Sport.”

Why did you not offer him the opportunity to stay? “We did have an option on him but our priority is to get Ford to stay in the WRC. That [option] time ran out and Mikko and his management team had to think about his career. It’s sad but I understand from their point of view what they have to do.”

Can he be a success at Citroen? “Everybody knows he can play the perfect supporting role, which is what he did fantastic for us in 2006 and 2007. It’s very clear what the strategy is [at Citroen] and who is their number one. It will be interesting to see but whatever happens Mikko is going to do a fantastic job. You’ve got to remember he was the only one who could take the title fight to Sebastien in Wales and that also happened in 2009. We always regard him in the team as ‘Iceman’ and he always does a very solid job with very few accidents.”

Who is in the frame to replace Mikko? “You know the drivers who are available but our priority is to get Ford over the line first and then concentrate on the driver side of things. In relation to drivers I’m still speaking to various drivers but it’s not a priority.”

Sebastien Ogier has been linked to a swap deal with Mikko. Is this something you would consider and would like to achieve? “Put it this way if we get Ford over the line everybody knows we did make an approach to Sebastien last year. I would definitely look to field the strongest driver line-up that I can. But there are a lot of things still to be taken into consideration. The biggest one is obviously the fees for the drivers and that’s something we’ll look at as and when we get the main situation resolved.”

Have you offered Ogier a deal? “No because I’m not in a position to offer him a deal. But there’s no secret we’ve talked and had discussions but I’m not in a position to do that.”

Within the existing Ford family are there any drivers who could become Jari-Matti’s team-mate? “It all depends on what we end up deciding. Hopefully we can make a longer term strategic plan if everything goes as we hope it does with Ford then we might look at something different. It was there for everybody to see we had some very encouraging performances by drivers in Fords on Rally GB so there are many opportunities open to us.”

How far away is the Ford agreement from being concluded? “We’re still in good discussion and still looking at a lot of different aspects so hopefully we can have a decision in the not too distant future.”