Wilson Jr. gets penalty 'present' for Rally GB.

Stobart VK's Matthew Wilson has been fined and handed a one-minute penalty for the next event, the Wales Rally GB after he was clocked speeding on Friday in NZ prior to the start of the first special stage.

Wilson, who was driving at 89 kilometres per hour in a 70 kph zone, was given the punishment as a result of his previous speeding offences in Sweden and in Spain earlier this season. As such the stewards judged him to be a 'regular offender'.

A statement from the stewards explained:

"The stewards received a report from the clerk of the course stating that competitor #9, entrant of the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally team, driver Matthew Wilson and co-driver, Michael Orr, have been reported by the police for speeding on November 18 at 09.38 hours.

"The speed limit at this location is 70 kph and competitor #9 was, according to the police, driving at 89 kph.

"The stewards then summoned a representative of the entrant, the Stobart VK M-Sport Ford Rally team and the crew, Matthew Wilson and Michael Orr to them. On being questioned, the crew apologised for their lapse and stated that they would ensure that the speed limit would not be broken by them again.

"The stewards draw the attention of the crew to the fact that the speed limit had been broken by them once in Sweden and eight times in Spain this year.

"The stewards reminded the crew of the last paragraph of Stewards Decision #1 dated 23/03/2006 issued in Spain, which read: 'The stewards warn the crew that as per Art. 12.2 of the 2006 FIA World Rally Championship Regulations the stewards will report the second offence to the FIA and treat this crew as a regular offender with appropriate penalties should this infringement occur again'.

"Under the circumstances the stewards decide to:

"1. That based on precedents concerning speeding offences by P1 drivers to impose a fine of 3800 Euros for this speeding infringement.

"2. To levy a time penalty of 1 minute on the driver Matthew Wilson in the next WRC rally that he participates in.

"The entrant is reminded of his right to appeal according to Art. 180 et seq. of the International Sporting Code."

Wilson for the record is not the only driver to have been clocked speeding on the Rally NZ this weekend, indeed several other drivers' have been handed various punishments including fines and time penalties - such as Petter Solberg, Henning Solberg, Xavier Pons and three Production Car WRC competitors, namely: Jari-Matti Latvala, Nigel Heath and Takuma Kamada.