Guy Wilks has finished day 2 of the Wales Rally GB in a seemingly unassailable position and well set to take the win in the
FIA Production Car World Rally Championship category.
Wilks took the lead on Friday in the second loop and while he came under threat from his Mitsubishi team-mate, Gwyndaf Evans, who closed to within 3.2 seconds after SS6, the Englishman managed to pull away a bit on day 2, finishing the morning loop 7.6 seconds ahead.
Evans was then sidelined by gearbox problems in SS10 and that has put Wilks in a commanding position, more than a minute up on Mark Higgins, who now lies second.
Both Wilks and Higgins though are also battling for honours in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship and with the times there 're-set' - as legs 2 and 3 count as a separate event – the gap is a lot closer, with Guy less than 10 seconds ahead.
“It's the [British Rally] championship I am concerned about now,” said Wilks post-SS12, “and not Mark's strategy.”
Higgins, who was 10.5 seconds slower than his fellow countryman in Halfway 2, the final proper stage of the day, is eager to keep trying to push though, so Guy can't ease up: “We dropped time in SS12 but we need to keep the pressure on Guy,” he confirmed.
Juho Hanninen meanwhile rounds out the PWRC top three, 19.4 seconds further back in his Evo: “I am going a little too easy in the dark and need to get faster,” he stated.
Further down the order, Alessandro Bettega is fourth, 4 minutes off the lead, while Armindo Araujo completes the PWRC top five, 1.5 minutes further in arrears.
“I am finding it difficult to adjust to the car but we are 4th in class so can't be doing all that badly,” stated Bettega.
Of the rest, David Higgins is sixth, having gained a place after Stuart Jones crashed out in the penultimate stage of the day [see separate story], an incident that left his co-driver, Andy Bull with an injured shoulder.
Higgins is more than a minute up on Andreas Aigner, who is in P7, while Mirco Baldacci is on course for the final PWRC point in eighth.
“Today was not a good day,” Mirco reflected, “We have been having gearbox problems all day with not enough power.”
A number of PWRC runners had problems today and retired from the leg and in addition to Jones and Evans, former Moto X star, Travis Pastrana failed to get to the end, as did Patrik Flodin. Flodin had been running in the top five until he was sidelined in SS11.
![Guy Wilks (GBR) / Phil Pugh (GBR), Mitsubishi Lancer Evo [Production WRC]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/399877.jpg)
