Ford: Manufacturers' title still possible

Citroen head Ford by 11 points going into the Rally GB, and although Jari-Matti Latvala currently leads the rally for Ford, Hirvonen is outside the top 20 following his roll yesterday afternoon, which cost him four minutes.

Both Citroens are currently on course to score points, with Dani Sordo and Sebastien Loeb second and third after today's first stage.

But with the icy road conditions still causing problems for crews, Wilson believes the tables could turn again during the remaining two days.

"It was an uncharacteristic error by Mikko - quite unlike him," he said.

"The good thing is he's still going and the car can be repaired 100 per cent.

"Although our championship aspirations look a tall order, if the conditions are the same again (on Saturday) then anything can probably happen."

Citroen boss Olivier Quesnel agreed that the rally remained too unpredictable for him to be confident of reclaiming the title.

"Today it has been a lottery," he said on Friday evening.

"The manufacturers' title is far from over. Maybe tomorrow it will be my cars that are off the road."

But he also confirmed that his drivers had been instructed not to jeopardise Citroen's title chances by pushing too hard to win the event.

"It is better to win the manufacturers' title than win the rally, and also to try and win the rally today would have been a big mistake," said Quesnel.

Hirvonen said that he planned to push flat-out for the rest of the event to try and salvage points if possible.

"All I can do on Saturday is drive flat out - I can't lose any more," he said. "Who knows, maybe I can roll it again!"

He also felt he would have lost less time had he received more help getting back on the road.

"The problem was that there were not enough marshals to turn us over and it took a while to get the spectators to help," said Hirvonen.

"This is not a criticism, but in Finland it would have been quicker because of the way the marshals work. The car was broadside across the road, so to get Sordo by they pushed me more into the ditch. It was probably the right thing to do."