Mitsubishi's Guy Wilks secured the honours in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship on day 1 of the Wales Rally GB, the sixth round in the series.

Wilks, who is also entered as a wild-card in the FIA Production Car World Rally Championship category, took the top spot on the repeat loop on Friday afternoon, pulling ahead of Mark Higgins in SS4. Higgins then lost ground in SS5 and SS6 when he picked up two punctures.

In the end Guy concluded the day just 3.2 seconds up on his team-mate, Gwyndaf Evans, after he too had issue in the final stage.

"It was lucky for us that Mark had his punctures because we lost our lamp pod on the last stage," said the Englishman. "Then we had to drive with one fog light and just the side lights. The weather was terrible out there but it is great to get maximum points."

Evans meanwhile, who had been third in the BRC post-SS5, put in a storming time in SS6, to leap-frog Higgins and cut the gap to his team-mate from nearly 50 seconds to just over 3. The Welshman reckoned local knowledge helped him and with the seventh best time overall, it was clearly some effort.

"The first half of the stage didn't feel that good," he stated, "but it really clicked on the second half even though the visibility was atrocious, Huw [Lewis - my co-driver] did a great job keeping us on track."

While Evans was delighted though, Higgins was bitterly disappointed to lose so much ground and drop to third.

"This has been the worst day ever," said Mark, who is bidding to win his fourth BRC crown to add to those taken in 1997, 2005 and 2006. "We had two punctures on SS5 and SS6 which cost us time. It's just been a nightmare start to the rally."

Mark's brother, David was next up in fourth, albeit more than a minute further back. Like virtually all the drivers, David was shocked by how tough the weather made things.

"That has got to have been the most difficult start to a rally ever," he stated. "It is so rough in there - with all the water in the ruts the car is actually aquaplaning at high speeds. Very scary!"

Further down the order, Jonathan Greer was fifth, while Wyn Humphries and Rob Swann came in sixth and seventh, followed by Matt Beebe, James Wozencroft and Luke Pinder, although the latter is not registered for BRC points.

The action now continues on Saturday, although in terms of the BRC, all times are now 're-set', as legs 2 and 3 of the Wales Rally GB count as a separate event, the seventh and final round in the series.