\u201cSo I put the phone on the passenger seat. I was in a left-hand drive recce car that I used to have \u2013 a [VW] Golf which was just a left-hand-drive car \u2013 and so I pulled over into this lay-by and the conversation started.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Paul said, \u2018Yes, so obviously it\u2019s Paul Howarth from Prodrive, I\u2019m just doing some junior driver profile updates and I\u2019ve got a couple of holes on yours and I\u2019m just wondering if you\u2019ve got time to answer a few questions?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201c\u2018Yeah, no problem.\u2019 So the conversation ensued.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd at that point, once I knew who it was, the 30 seconds of realization of finding the safe spot to pull over, I can tell you now, the heart started racing. What the hell? What does Paul Howarth\u2026 because at that point, I\u2019d said hi to him probably a few times through the service area. Hadn\u2019t really had a conversation with him, but you know, as a youngster, you know obviously David Lapworth, Paul Howarth, David Richards were synonymous with Prodrive. They were the names. Just like Malcolm was and still is at M-Sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd so my heart started racing before I even got onto the phone call proper, as it were. So yeah, he ran through a few questions, asked me a few details. At the end of the conversation, he said, \u2018Don\u2019t read into this phone call too much. I may be in touch in the future or I may not.\u2019 So I said, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s fine. Absolutely no problem. If you need anything else, just give me a call\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I put the phone down and by this point, my head is starting to spin. Suzuki are pressuring me because I had a one-year contract. Suzuki, literally for the previous two weeks before that phone call, are pressuring me to sign a contract. Suzuki wants a two-year extension for \u201905 and \u201906.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not even thinking there\u2019s a WRC car opportunity coming on the horizon. So I\u2019m thinking, \u2018Wow, yeah, great. I\u2019ve secured my opportunity.\u2019 I didn\u2019t really need money at that point in my life. I\u2019ve secured an opportunity to drive a rally car for free for another two years. Get in! But let\u2019s just make sure we can take a bit of advice and look at this in a bit more depth than previous years.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, for two weeks they\u2019ve been pressuring me to sign this because we\u2019ve ironed everything out. I\u2019m just holding off, then I took this phone call, so I ring my dad straight away. I said, \u2018Dad, I just had this phone call from Paul Howarth\u2019. At that point, I probably needed to explain to my dad [who he was] because my dad was headlong into business.<\/p>\n