Zoom A points finish for Wilson to conclude a difficult week-end

Matthew Wilson/Scott Martin have scored a points finish on the penultimate round of the FIA World Rally Championship by finishing Rally Japan in seventh position today. The 21-year-old driver battled some treacherous conditions to post his sixth points finish of the 2008 season.

Unfortunately François Duval/Patrick Pivato retired from the event after an accident on stage 6 saw the French co-driver airlifted to Higashi Tokushukai hospital in Sapporo with a fractured pelvis and fractured tibia. He currently remains in a stable but critical condition with doctors reporting continued positive improvement in his progress.

Organisers and event medical staff did a fantastic job to arrive speedily on the scene and work efficiently to help the Frenchman out of his car after he became trapped in it for several minutes after the accident. Duval was uninjured in the accident and accompanied his navigator to the hospital.

The accident occurred 4.8 kilometres into stage six on a fast muddy section of road when Duval slid wide into a crash barrier heavily impacting a steel support pole on the co-driver's door. First on the scene were teammates Wilson and Martin who aided Duval in alerting safety officials.

The rally action afterwards continued for Wilson, who fluctuated throughout the event. By the end of Day Two, he was perched nicely in fifth place despite some time loss due to a lack of rhythm with his pacenotes on these brand new stages to the WRC. Sunday saw the young Brit in a fierce battle with the two Suzuki drivers, but he unfortunately slipped back to seventh on what has been one of the most demanding day's rallying in recent years.

The result sees Wilson pick up two valuable driver points which launches him back into the top ten in the drivers' championship standings heading into his home and final event of the season, Wales Rally GB.

Weather conditions varied throughout the event with Saturday being the pick of the crop, offering blue skies and relatively dry roads. Sunday unfortunately saw the worst of this event's conditions as it started raining heavily at the start of stage 22 and continued falling until the final morning stage, making conditions extremely difficult for the afternoon's final four stages.

The roads have been quite consistent concerning attrition levels and the soft surface saw some big ruts forming especially during the second pass of most special stages. This cost several crews a big price with many top WRC competitors falling victim to the slippery stages generally ran to the south east of Rally HQ at the Sapporo Dome.