Last updated 10:30, Friday, 03 October 2008

STOBART VK M-Sport Ford welcomes the return of last year’s superstars Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila for the Rallye de España.

They are reunited with former team-mates Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin as the two crews look to post some solid results and collect a strong haul of points for the Stobart squad.

After what has been an impressive show of speed this year with the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, Latvala will be keen to post a points finish on the second proper asphalt event of the year after missing the opportunity in Germany by one position.

The 23-year-old showed phenomenal speed on the sealed surface with the team last year by claiming the first ever podium of his career on the newly featured Rally Ireland.

With several weeks break since the previous WRC round in New Zealand, Wilson will be hungry to get the ball rolling once again in Spain.

In preparation for the event, in addition to his habitual fitness regime, the young Brit has spent a day with renowned driver coach Rob Wilson fine-tuning his Tarmac skills.

The 21-year-old also contested the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally last weekend in a 05-specification Ford Focus RS WRC where he came up against a raft of rallying superstars including four former world champions.

Latvala said: “I have done five hours of asphalt training with one of Finland’s top touring car drivers on a race track and there are quite a few things I have learnt, especially with my braking, which I know I can use on the next two Tarmac rallies.

“I did the same training 12 months ago, only this time I feel like I have taken a lot more from it.

“I’m looking forward to Spain and Corsica because I like these rallies and now I will have had more time with the Pirelli PZero tyre so I will be more familiar with its actions.”

Wilson said: “It will be nice to go back to a consistent Tarmac event in Spain and hopefully things will stay dry.

“I prefer the nature of these stages to Germany as the roads are consistent over all three days whereas in Germany there was a lot of variation.

“Being with Rob Wilson should be good preparation for the event. We are back scoring points for the Stobart team and I am sporting my lucky number seven so looking forward to starting the event next week.”