Ford rally boss suggests later date for Portugal

But after the event was thrown into chaos by prolonged heavy rain that has turned the stages into muddy quagmires, the Ford team boss says a later slot on the calendar should be looked at for the future.

SS7, a second running of the Vieira/Cabeceiras stage, was cancelled due to potential crowd problems, and because of the muddy conditions making it next to impossible for rescue vehicles to access the stage.

SS6, Fafe, had already been cancelled due to cars stuck in the mud from its first running, as SS3, making it impossible for the lead cars to enter for a second time.

"The decision was understandable when you look at the stages and the condition they were in," said Wilson, whose drivers Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae and Francois Delecour were third, seventh and eighth respectively after SS5. "It was a sensible decision because of the safety implications if we had run it.

"We can only hope that the weather changes for the better tomorrow, but I don't know if we can expect anything meaningful for the rest of today.

"But after this, we should take a good look at the calendar, so we don't tempt this sort of situation in the future."

The delays after SS7 mean that the rally is running approximately 70 minutes behind schedule. The three remaining stages are all being run through for the first time, which should lessen the mud problems to some extent.