Hirvonen backed to find his form

Mikko Hirvonen is fifth in the WRC standings.

Mikko Hirvonen has been backed to turn things around after a disappointing campaign that has left him in fifth place in the World Rally Championship standings. Having won the calendar's opening round in Sweden, an off-colour Hirvonen has since struggled, with the low point to his campaign coming at Rally Finland last month when he crashed out of the lead of the event that he had won 12 months earlier

But Malcolm Wilson, Ford's team director, and Jari-Matti Latvala, the team's No 2 driver, both believe it is only a matter of time before the Finn, who has 11 career wins, rediscovers peak form. "The big thing, the most important thing, is that Mikko knows myself and everyone in the team has faith in him," Wilson said. "We are 100 per cent behind him and he knows it. Every driver has an off-patch, a period where nothing goes right, and it's Mikko's turn now. But if anyone can pull out of this difficult run, it is Mikko - he will pull through."

Wilson cited the disappearance of consistent top order finishes - Hirvonen has snared 22 podiums in the last two year's 27 rounds - as the worrying factor in the Ford No 1's depressing slide in form this year. "Mikko's consistency has always been one of his strongest attributes, but I am very confident he will recover, Mikko will get it back." Latvala agreed. "Every year is not always easy and I've had difficult times myself," said Latvala, whose most consistent season to date has still been marred by points-costing accidents in Turkey and Portugal. "Mikko's consistency has seen him go close [to winning the title] for a few successive years now, but remember he has only made two mistakes this year."

After playing second fiddle to Hirvonen during his four-year tenure with Wilson's Ford works team, Latvala predicted it will not be too long before his more experienced teammate is once again challenging for race honours and expects a good showing at this weekend's Rally Germany. "In sport you always have ups and downs; it is part of competition to climb back up," said Latvala. "[Sebastien] Loeb crashed three rallies in a row last year, so even a six-time world champion can have problems sometimes.

"Mikko will climb back up and I'm sure Germany will be good for him." [e-mail]