WRC: Camilli under pressure after tough start

M-Sport World Rally team principal Malcolm Wilson has turned up the pressure on factory Ford Fiesta RS WRC driver Eric Camilli, saying the Frenchman must finish this week's Rally Argentina.

Camilli has suffered a nightmare start to his career as a works WRC driver, posting just one finish - 16th in Mexico - and crashing on all three rallies he has started. The 28-year-old flew into Britain for a meeting with Wilson last week to talk about his tough start to the year and how he intends to put it right in South America.

"He will finish this rally," said Wilson. "He knows what he's got to do. He needs a sensible run through all of the stages. Psychologically as much as anything else, this one's an important one for him."

Camilli, who has never competed in Argentina before but did complete the recce last season, added: "The start to the season has been very tough, really tough. I want to repay the faith the team has shown in me this week. Our target will be to maintain a good rhythm through all of the stages, avoid the traps and make it to the finish."

A former Toyota protege, Camilli was chosen to replace Elfyn Evans in the main M-Sport line-up this season. Camilli and team-mate Mads Ostberg will have a slightly easier job in Argentina following the discovery of a problem with their factory cars last time out in Mexico.

Wilson explained: "Looking on the data when the cars were back here, we discovered there was a problem. We made a mistake on the mapping and we'll have that right in Argentina. There's no doubt the drivers will notice a difference in the response and torque from the engine this time."

Despite those issues in Leon, M-Sport still celebrated its 200th consecutive point-scoring finish in the world championship.

Originally on Autosport.com