by Rob Wilkins
TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH GUY WILKS: CLICK HERE
Mitsubishi's Guy Wilks will be out to try and defend his crown in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship this year.
Crash.net Radio caught with the Englishman recently and spoke to him about that - and got the latest on his plans to try and compete in the WRC too...
Crash.net:
Guy, at the Autosport International Show a few weeks ago it was confirmed - as expected - that you will be back with the 'works' Mitsubishi team this year. How happy are you to be able to come back and try to defend your BRC title?
Guy Wilks:
I am more than happy to come back in and defend my BRC title. We had a great year last season - myself and Mitsubishi in the UK. Obviously it culminated with me winning the British championship and them winning the manufacturers' crown as well. It was a fantastic year and I am delighted to come back and try and repeat the performance.
Crash.net:
Will it be hard to take the title again?
GW:
It is never easy in rallying is it? Not only are you up against opposition but you are up against yourself, the car and the environment. Anything can happen in rallying. You never count your chickens. I am definitely looking forward to it and while it is never easy I am now much more familiar with the car. I was up against the hardest opposition in the UK in Mark Higgins and Gwyndaf Evans. They don't come much better than those two and we managed to beat them last year. I am fairly confident but I am not getting too far ahead of the game.
Crash.net:
Last year the battle went to the wire on the Wales Rally GB although in part that was due to the points system, whereby competitors only count their best five scores from seven.
GW:
I had nobody to blame really for one of the dropped scores, apart from myself - and that was why it did go down to the wire. On the
Jim Clark we slid off while leading and that put some more pressure on us. But fortunately for myself the way the championship works you can only count five from seven points scoring opportunities. However I think if I am honest I shouldn't have made that mistake and it would have been a little bit easier if I hadn't. It was what it was though. We put the pressure on ourselves and we still managed to win it.
Crash.net:
Who do you think will be your main opposition this season?
GW:
It is difficult to know because it is so early with the British championship with it not really starting - or nobody really knowing what they are doing - until April. I don't know what my opposition is. I don't really know who is doing it. Obviously Phillip Morrow is joining the team in Gwyndaf's seat. I will definitely have to watch Phillip. He is in the same machinery and the first thing you have to do is beat your team-mate. Phillip has got a great opportunity coming from the Evo Challenge and I am sure he is looking forward to the year. But other than that I don't know. There are a lot of rumours flying around. However there is no point trying to make any judgements based on speculation. We will see what happens.
