Markko Martin Q&A

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David Richards said he'd be happy to discuss a WRC return for you in a Subaru, is there any chance we'll see you driving on a WRC rally anytime soon?
I don't know. I haven't thought about it that much to be honest. I'm enjoying what I'm doing right now; its great working with a good bunch of people at Subaru and fun too. I'm enjoying the best parts of rallying; I get to drive this fantastic World Rally Car and work on other things with engineers to try and improve things, which is interesting as well. After that there are no media, no crazy early mornings or long road sections. It's quite okay like this!

If not as a driver then, could we see you in some sort of team management role?
I don't know; they still have to do early mornings. The thing is, I've been really busy since I stopped rallying. Yes, it's nice to go to some events to see old faces and catch up but to do it every second weekend, I'm not sure.

If you had the chance to do one rally again, just for fun, which would it be?
My two favourite rallies have always been Sweden and New Zealand. They're the two most fun ones I reckon, so either of them would be good.

Who is your tip for the 2008 Drivers' title?
It has to be Loeb. If he can do his usual trick on tarmac later this year then I think he'll get the title again.

And what about the Manufacturers' title - will Ford take it?
I'm not sure. This year I think it will be more equal between Citroen and Ford. Jari-Matti has been making mistakes but Dani Sordo has been making them too. I think it will come down to which of them makes less mistakes.

There was a lot of discussion in Turkey about road position and road sweeping. What's your view?
Well it's strange. Road position was something everybody was talking about I was driving, seven or eight years ago. It was exactly the same situation and nobody was happy with it. Then it got changed to the top 15 reversing and I don't think there were any complaints. But now this year the rules have changed again. So it's not a new situation, just an old problem brought back and I don't understand why. But it's certainly made Sebastien Loeb's life difficult. In my opinion the reversing worked really well, it was fair and no one complained. If you are leading then you are a bit handicapped, but later on if you have been doing well you are in a good position and you can still fight.

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