FRST

Ford team director Malcolm Wilson says Dani Sordo can win this week’s Rally Argentina – his first ever outing in a Fiesta RS WRC.

Long-time Citroen and now Prodrive Mini driver Sordo has yet to win a round of the World Rally Championship and victory on an event where he is standing in for the injured Jari-Matti Latvala would be the story of the season.

“I don’t really see any reason why he can’t win,” said Wilson. “This is going to be a long and very tough rally and one which is going to be won with the head. Dani has very good experience of this rally and yes, I think it’s possible for him to win.”

Sordo tested the Fiesta RS WRC for a day in Cumbria prior to flying out to South America for the fifth round of the series. Wilson accepts the on-loan Spaniard is short on seat time in one of the Cockermouth-built cars.

“One thing which people consistently say about the Fiesta is that they can get in the car and drive very quickly,” said Wilson. “It doesn’t take long for the confidence to build in the Fiesta. Dani will need to settle himself into the event and then see what’s happening around him. We saw what can happen when the weather changes on the last round in Portugal and, on this event, I’m sure we’re going to see some interesting weather conditions.”

Wilson said there would be no decision on team-orders possibly favouring Sordo’s Ford team-mate Petter Solberg until the event was well underway.

“Petter’s been pushing to win rallies all season,” said Wilson, “and that’s certainly not going to change this time. We’ll be monitoring things as the rally unfolds.”

Pour la spéciale de qualification, tout s’est bien passé puisqu’on fait le meilleur temps. Mikko est derrière moi et Sordo à plus d’une seconde. Solberg s’est un peu fait larguer mais curieusement il a fait la "qualif" en pneus durs. Pour préserver ses tendres selon lui. Il a dû se passer un truc dans sa tête parce que sur 4 bornes, on n’abime pas ses pneus… Mais bon.