Last updated 19:58, Thursday, 16 October 2008

BOTH Stobart VK M-Sport Ford nominated crews collected a healthy tally of points in the Rallye de France.

ISLAND DRIVE: Wilson drives through a Corsican village on his way to two points

Jari-Matti Latvala/Miikka Anttila showed amazing team spirit to deliberately pick up a penalty so BP Ford’s Mikko Hirvonen could move back ahead of him after having a puncture. (see above story)

Latvala finished fourth while team-mates Wilson/Scott Martin showed exactly what they are capable of by moving from 14th on Friday night to eighth by the rally’s end.

Further demonstrating the strength of the Stobart team were Barry Clark/Paul Nagle who finished an impressive 10th on their debut in a world rally car on asphalt.

Completing the quartet was Henning Solberg/Cato Menkerud who shrugged off two punctures to finish the event 15th.

Latvala’s performance was nothing short of superb and his amazing speed showed throughout the event and improved on every occasion.

The 23-year-old Finn was in a fierce battle for most of the weekend with both works Subaru drivers but managed to comfortably come out well on top.

Wilson’s result now sees his 2008 driver championship tally move to 13 which is more points than his total career tally prior to this year.

After a small off on Friday’s third stage he was lucky not to damage the front left suspension and fortunately the durability of the damper and the Pirelli PZero tyre saw him only loose 40 seconds as spectators had to help him back onto the road.

After that mishap he kicked into gear, setting some great times over the final two days, which included a fifth fastest time on the monster Agosta-Pont de Calzola stage.