1. Matthew James Wilson was born on 29 January 1987 and is a British rally driver from Cockermouth in Cumbria.
19 Facts About Matthew Wilson
1. 2.
Matthew Wilson is the son of M-Sport boss and former World Rally Championship driver Malcolm Wilson.
3.
Matthew Wilson achieved his best result at the 2007 Rally Japan, finishing in fourth place.
4.
Matthew Wilson was initially a brief competitor in single seaters, winning 17 out of 22 races to become T Cars Champion in 2002, before graduating to the Formula Renault UK Championship in 2003, finishing 18th overall for Manor Motorsport.
5.
Matthew Wilson competed in his first rally, the 2003 Malcolm Matthew Wilson Rally, as co-driver to his father, and together they won the event.
6.
Matthew Wilson was one of only six driver and co-drivers selected for the Motor Sports Association British Rally Elite training scheme designed for young British drivers in 2005, and became the youngest ever winner of a British Rally Championship round in the same year when he won the Trackrod Rally aged 18 years, 8 months and 5 days.
7.
Matthew Wilson broke his right wrist and left forearm, as well as damaging his right knee.
8.
When Matthew Wilson returned to rallying four months later, he finished second overall on the Gleanor Speyside Stages Rally.
9.
Matthew Wilson competed in the Finnish Rally Championship, recording his best result at the Vaakuna Rally where he drove his Ford Focus RS WRC 01 to 13th place overall.
10.
Matthew Wilson finished 28th in the season's standings with one point, but was classified as a finisher in every event, an achievement no other driver managed in 2006.
11.
Matthew Wilson finished eleventh in the drivers' world championship with eleven points.
12.
Matthew Wilson scored his first points of the season in Mexico with a sixth-place finish.
13.
In September 2008, Matthew Wilson took part in the Colin McRae Forest Stages Rally, a round of the Scottish Rally Championship centred in Perth, Scotland.
14.
Matthew Wilson was one of a number of WRC celebrity drivers to take part in the event in memory of McRae, who died in 2007.
15.
Matthew Wilson went on to win the event comfortably in a 2005-spec Focus RS WRC.
16.
Matthew Wilson will compete for privateer team Go Fast Energy World Rally Team driving a Ford Fiesta RS WRC along with team-mate Henning Solberg for the 2012 season.
17.
Matthew Wilson finished 11th in the season opener at Monte Carlo, 18 minutes off the winning time.
18.
Matthew Wilson Jr gained funding from several Cumbrian firms which enabled him to enter the 2012 Wales Rally GB.
19.
Matthew Wilson finished 6 minutes off the pace of winner Jari-Matti Latvala.