The Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team will look to draw on experience as the 2009 FIA World Rally Championship season gets underway at Rally Ireland next weekend. It will be the first time the championship has started outside of Monaco since 1996, but the Cumbrian team’s previous outings at the event should see the ambitious outfit firmly in contention for a strong result.
Stobart achieved its first-ever tarmac podium in Ireland, as Jari-Matti Latvala secured third place when the event made its debut on the WRC calendar in 2007. The M-Sport-run squad will be hoping its current line-up of crews can push for podium positions in a similar fashion, having also already tasted success there in the past.
Stobart’s Matthew Wilson won the inaugural Rally Ireland in 2005 and the Englishman’s experience could be the key to success. This edition of the event will be Wilson’s 50th WRC start - an incredible achievement for a driver who will turn just 22, when the ceremonial start kicks the event off, on Thursday evening. He and co-driver Scott Martin are focused on replicating the kind of searing pace they showed in glimpses last season on a more regular basis in 2009.
Henning Solberg will be hoping his preparations for this year’s event will go more smoothly than on his last visit to the Emerald Isle. He ended up tackling the 2007 event with a replacement co-driver, after regular navigator Cato Menkerud was forced to pull out at the last minute when wife Charlotte gave birth to their second child. Solberg showed great improvement on tarmac last year, despite his relative inexperience on the surface, and the Norwegian will be hopeful of putting in a strong showing as one of the team’s nominated scorers.
Urmo Aava will be making his Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally Team debut in Ireland. The Estonian and co-pilot Kuldar Sikk are nominated scorers for Stobart and will be looking to settle in quickly by finishing the rally and securing crucial points for the squad. Aava’s seat in the iconic Stobart team is sure to enhance his already widespread popularity - as demonstrated when he was voted Driver of the Year by an overwhelming majority of visitors to WRC.com last month.
Rally Ireland has the honour of taking the place of traditional first round Monte Carlo due to the new rotation system introduced by the FIA. Stages take place in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, and it is the island’s biggest sporting event with more than 250,000 spectators expected to take in the action. The ceremonial start will take place at Enniskillen Castle in Northern Ireland and will be followed over the course of the weekend by 19 stages through seven counties in the north-west; Cavan, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Tyrone, Sligo, Donegal and Roscommon.
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