Wilks pleased with first day of Rally of Scotland

big ich6750 Wilks pleased with first day of Rally of Scotland

Guy Wilks declared himself pleased with the first day of action of the 2009 RACMSA Rally of Scotland, the final round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Wilks and co-driver Phil Pugh completed the day in second place in their Skoda UK-supported Fabia Super 2000 rally car, just 21.2 seconds behind 2009 IRC champion Kris Meeke after a gruelling day of action on the wet and slippery Scottish stages.

Despite maintaining his objective of ensuring that he finished the rally, Wilks was on the pace from the outset, as he and Meeke traded stage times all day. They each took a pair of stage wins on the way towards the final stage of the day, a re-run of the 20.49Km Craigvinean test, although this time in the darkness.

Wilks had only covered 10Km in the Fabia in darkness, as he deliberately waited until nightfall at the pre-event test earlier this week. While he was comfortable with the prospect of the stage, there was a problem with the Skoda’s lamp-pod. One of the right-hand long-range lamps failed, so that his vision into right hand corners was severely hampered. Therefore he decided not to take any risks and backed off to ensure he made it to the end of the day.

Commenting at the overnight service, Wilks said; “The last stage today was very good. However, with one of the lamps not working and not being able to see into right hand corners properly, I decided not to risk going too quickly. We lost some time to Kris but I’m not overly worried about that. There’s still a long way to go and anything could happen.

“We’re really pleased with the way today has gone. It’s been very close all day but as our objective is to get to the finish, I’m not allowing myself to get sucked into a fight with Kris for the win and take risks that might affect our chance of getting to the finish ramp.”

The second and last day of the event sees the crews tackle six stages, in two loops of three. This includes the daunting Loch Ard stage which, according to Phil Pugh, could well be the deciding factor on the rally.

“There’s nothing like Loch Ard anywhere else in the UK,” he explained. “It’s very technical and very difficult, with lots of crests and blind sections. I think the rally won’t be over until the last car is through Loch Ard and it could well be the decider for the weekend.”

The first crew leaves service in Stirling at 6.50am and is expected back at the finish ramp in front of Stirling Castle at 4.30pm.