Reid applauds Wilson Jr and Barritt.

Richard Burns' former co-driver, Robert Reid has praised the performance of MSA British Rally Elite duo, Matthew Wilson and Daniel Barritt following their performance on the opening round of the FIA World Rally Championship, the Rallye Monte Carlo.

Wilson Jr. was making his debut on the event with the Stobart VK team - and finished a very creditable 15th overall in his first WRC round outside the UK. Barritt meanwhile was co-driving for Japanese star, Fumio Nutahara and on their first event together they took the honours in the Production Car WRC, beating David Higgins by over 6 minutes.

"Monte Carlo was an impressive start to the season for the scheme participants," said Reid, who is the current performance director for the MSA backed scheme.

"Daniel's result proves just why he has a place on the scheme. To win a Production Cup round with a new driver on a difficult event such as Monte Carlo is no mean feat.

"In the same way Matt's result shows experience and maturity well above his age. Again he had to contend with a new car and co-driver and he tackled the event superbly, gaining valuable experience along the way. We are hoping to make some developments to the scheme in 2006 and this is certainly a wonderful start to the season, with Daniel on top and British co-drivers taking the top three places in the Production category."

The MSA British Rally Elite training scheme was set up in 2005 to make the cream of young British talent more attractive to WRC teams and to give British competitors a greater chance of breaking into the sport.