Mitsubishi's Guy Wilks leads the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship category following day 1 of the Wales Rally GB.

Wilks, who is also competing for points in the BRC this weekend, took top spot on the repeat loop this afternoon, pulling ahead of Mark Higgins, in SS4. Higgins then lost ground in SS5 and SS6 when he picked up two punctures.

In the end Guy concluded the day just 3.2 seconds up on his team-mate, Gwyndaf Evans, after he too had problems in the final stage.

The result though was enough to give him maximum BRC points from the first day: “It was lucky for us that Mark had his punctures because we lost our lamp pod on the last stage,” said the Englishman. “Then we had to drive with one fog light and just the side lights. The weather was terrible out there.”

Evans meanwhile, who had been fourth in the PWRC post-SS5, put in a storming time in SS6, to leap-frog Juho Hanninen and Higgins and cut the gap to his team-mate from nearly 50 seconds to just over 3.

The Welshman reckoned local knowledge helped him and with the seventh best time overall, it was clearly some effort: “The first half of the stage didn't feel that good,” he stated, “but it really clicked on the second half even though the visibility was atrocious, Huw [Lewis – my co-driver] did a great job keeping us on track.”

While Evans was delighted though, Higgins was bitterly disappointed to lose so much ground and drop to fourth, 1.2 seconds off Hanninen and nearly a minute off Wilks.

“This has been the worst day ever,” said Mark, who is fighting with Wilks and Evans - and others - not only for the PWRC win, but also the 2007 BRC title. “We had two punctures on SS5 and SS6 which cost us time. It's just been a nightmare start to the rally.”

Mark's brother, David was next up in fifth, albeit more than a minute further back. Like virtually all the drivers, David was shocked by how tough the weather made things.

“That has got to have been the most difficult start to a rally ever,” he stated. “It is so rough in there - with all the water in the ruts the car is actually aquaplaning at high speeds. Very scary!”