Guy Wilks will have to make do without regular co-driver Phil Pugh on the Rally Isle of Man this week, the third round in the 2008 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship.
The Mitsubishi number one, who recently launched the 'Wilks 500 Club' - an investment / sponsorship scheme to try and secure him a drive with the works Subaru World Rally Team next year, will instead be partnered by David Moynihan. A statement from the Mitsubishi Motors UK Rally Team confirmed that back problems are to blame for Pugh's absence.
While this is a blow for the Englishman, and increases the pressure after the problems on the
Jim Clark, when his car caught fire and was completely destroyed, he is determined to fight back.
Indeed following a test in Wales last week, where he got his hands on his 'new' car - a 2007 Evolution IX which has been upgraded to this year's specification - he is bullish about his prospects and he will now be keen to try and repeat the run he put in on the Isle of Man last season, when he led from start to finish, winning 17 of the 21 stages.
"We now need to pull out all the stops to get back to where we should be in the championship and it would be great to repeat last year's success on the island," said Wilks. "However, the pressure is on, so whilst we've got to push hard, it's also important to ensure we end up with a strong finish."
Wilks goes into the Manx fresh from competing on the Rally Russia last weekend and with Pugh also missing that event, he at least has one outing already under his belt with Moynihan.
Indeed his debut outing in the IRC was pretty positive and while he didn't finish, due to transmission problems, he ran strongly and was inside the top-ten in his JAS Motorsport-run Honda Civic Type R R3.
