‘Right now WRC is all about money`
Markko Martin has effectively retired from active competition in the World Rally Championship. The Estonian has not competed since the tragic death of his co-driver Michael Park in the Welsh forests in September.
Speaking on the ‘Happy Hours` programme broadcast by Kanal 2 Martin revealed that thought of retirement were nothing new and that he had been considering it as an option prior to the death of Park and stated that at 30 years of age, it was time to call it a day in the WRC.

Even had the 2005 season proven a successful one and Peugeot had opted to continue in the series, Martin believes that he would not have continued beyond 2007. "Right now WRC is all about money,” the five time winner said. “If you have big sponsors, you can get any team you want and the WRC seems to get rich hobby drivers series."

Martin is however very proud of his success in the series and admits he would never have never thought that he would make it to the top level in Rallying. "When I would have asked that can anyone in Estonia get to WRC, everybody would say that it`s impossible."

Martin has always looked beyond just the WRC and even as a rising star he just got on with the job and enjoyed putting his car on the limit and beating his rivals. Now he is running his own junior programme in Estonia but he admits that the end of his WRC career ended very much on a bad note.

"My career ended on a very bad note. I would have liked the message to be more positive," Martin said. "I feel terribly sorry for what happened but have no feeling of guilt. I know full well the chances were 50:50 that the same fate could have befallen me."


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