Two domestic wins confirmed his rehabilitation last season, but he has the experience of only two outings on Rally GB to arm him for the rigours of the WRC."He's got to learn the stages, and to do that he has to finish rallies," his father said "But I can't hold him back all the time He's quite shrewd for his age so I am not worried I believe he has the ability to get to the top. It's the only big accident I've had and I suppose it's part of the learning process."Wilson Snr has emphasised the importance of that process and the need to learn his trade. I was out of competition for about four months, but I did sneak a drive while I still had my leg and arm in casts My confidence hasn't been affected. He has given me advice along the way."The huge shunt in Wales failed to dent Matthew's ambition "That same night I was itching to get back in the car. "When I was little I went to my dad's rallies and helped out I remember sleeping in the motorhome He had a workshop near the house and I was always in there.
He never influenced me to come into the sport, but once they saw how keen I was, he and my mum encouraged me. I'm too excited thinking about what a great opportunity I've got."Wilson was born into rallying, and the courage comes as naturally as the talent. His father, Malcolm, once a distinguished driver, runs Ford's senior team. His company, M-Sport, prepared the 2005-spec car his son will drive, partnered by Michael Orr."All I ever wanted was to drive," Matthew said.
The World Championship is my eventual aim, but it will be five or six years before I am in a position of trying to achieve what they achieved I've got a lot of learning to do first. The Monte is a difficult rally to start with, you can never be sure what the conditions are going to be like, so my objective will be to finish it."As for the knee, it's not 100 per cent yet, but at the same time it's not really a problem and I'm not thinking about it. But Wilson, who has a three-year contract to drive a Focus RS for Ford's second string, Stobart VK, is unconcerned by the attention or potential handicap.He said: "People talk about the pressure of being Britain's only driver doing all 16 rallies and following in the footsteps of Colin and Richard, but this is just the start of a long-term plan for me. Wilson embarks on the capricious Monte Carlo Rally on Friday knowing he will be portrayed as the successor to Britain's former world champions, Colin McRae and the late Richard Burns, who died of a brain tumour last November. As if that is not enough of a burden, he has a knee held together by wire after it was smashed into 10 pieces in a big accident last year He also suffered a broken arm and wrist.
The 18-year-old Cumbrian is Britain's only full World Rally Championship driver this season, and the youngest ever from these shores. Matthew Wilson, carrying the expectation of the nation on his shoulders and wiring in his knee, is about to make rallying history. Celtic may have atoned for their Scottish Cup defeat by Clyde last weekend but they squandered a two-goal lead, with Keane in defence, as Kilmarnock's vigour threatened to create another shock before Stephen McManus and Maciej Zurawski hit back with goals.. Since taking over as manager of Motherwell in 2002, Butcher has beaten every other team in the Scottish Premier League, apart from the one he captained to four titles during his five-year spell as Ibrox captain.. Parkhead produced a giant mosaic in Irish colours to welcome Roy Keane's home debut yesterday, but Gordon Strachan's jigsaw looks far from complete on this evidence. The former England captain and his chubby nemesis are never going to have a re-run of their famous race in the Azteca Stadium 20 years ago, but closing the gap on his old club today at Fir Park would put a smile on his face. Very few things have got the better of Terry Butcher in his long and varied career That makes Diego Maradona and Rangers a very exclusive band.