Two-time British Rally champion and 2005 Junior World Rally Championship runner-up Guy Wilks will not compete on the Kerzume Rally next weekend with the new Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, MML Sports Ltd announced on Friday.

Wilks, who gave the car its debut on the Talsi Rally in May, had been scheduled to conduct two pre-event tests, but that will not now happen.

A statement from the company explained that the decision has had to be taken due to 'three other conflicting programmes on the same weekend', which means it has had to 'redirect resources to other existing and new customer projects'.

"Of course I'm disappointed that we won't be able to enter the Kerzume Rally with the MML Sports Evo X but with everything that we have on at the moment, we cannot spare the resource to get the car ready or to the event," explained MML Sports managing director, John Easton.

"As frustrating as it is to miss that event, it's encouraging that we are so busy. Clearly, the end of August and September are very busy for us. We have to concentrate on giving [Hungarian Rally champion Csaba] Spitzmuller the best chance to win his second title in a row, which is definitely possible.

"He is still second in the championship to Norbert Herczig with two rounds to go. With the dropped scores, he does need to beat Herczig on the last two rounds though, so that's one area of focus.

"I think the next outing for the Evo X may well be in the UK now, perhaps the Trackrod Rally Yorkshire, the last round of the British Rally Championship at the end of September. We may also enter the final round of the Latvian Championship, Rally Latvia, as it's the flagship event and the most competitive. That will really give us an idea of where the car is, in terms of its competitiveness."