Mitsubishi's Guy Wilks was able to celebrate a 'perfect' start to the season on the Pirelli International Rally last weekend, when he won the event for the second year in succession.
As the reigning British champion, the 27-year-old began the event, the opening round in the 2008 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, as the clear favourite and he was straight on the case, emerging from the opening test with a lead he never relinquished.
Indeed he finished the four night stages on Friday with a 24 second lead, despite a scare in SS4 when he briefly dropped two wheels into one of Kielder's infamous ditches.
On the Saturday he continued to dominate and in the end he came out top by just over a minute, winning all but one of the events stages, his only other drama when he had to negotiate a fallen tree in SS11.
Despite taking such a resounding victory however, Wilks maintained it wasn't as easy as it looked, especially as he was up against some tough competition, including three-times British champion and his arch rival from last year, Mark Higgins, plus regular PWRC competitors Juho Hanninen and Patrik Flodin and former British champion David Higgins.
"It's great to carry on from where we left off. I immediately felt comfortable with the new car - and it ran perfectly from start to finish. Although we won by a significant margin, the quality of the field meant that it was no foregone conclusion, so I'm very happy to have come out on top against such tough competition," he reflected.
"I'm also pleased that things went according to plan.
"We pulled out a lead on Friday night and then, without taking risks, we were able to extend our advantage while others played catch-up on Saturday. A perfect start to the season."
Mitsubishi UK 'works' team boss Paul Brigden meanwhile was thrilled to see man take the gold again on the Pirelli, the first time this feat has been achieved since Malcolm Wilson scored back-to-back wins in 1979 and 1980.
