by Rob Wilkins


As well as competing in the WRC this season in a privately entered Ford Focus RS WRC, Guy Wilks has also been in action in the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship with Mitsubishi. Here he speaks to Crash.net Radio about the Pirelli International and the more recent, Jim Clark...



Q:
Guy, you are competing in the BRC this year [as well as doing the WRC]. What's that been like, because you started out very well on the Pirelli, the opening round of the BRC?

Guy Wilks:
Yeah, it started out amazingly on the Pirelli. We were fastest on every stage bar three where we had a gearbox problem and lost third gear. We couldn't have wished for a better debut with the team and in the car really. Not much more I can say than that. It was more or less perfect from our point of view and everyone else's.

On the Jim Clark we were slightly more cautious at the start but then we got into it and were really having a go. We had got the lead – and quite a good lead and then the weather started to play a part. We know we are quick enough. Out of both rallies we have got almost two thirds of the stage wins, if not more. So that says a lot about our pace.

It was just a pity we were caught out on slick tyres on the Jim Clark. We had a loop of three stages and we went out from service and it was quite a long time scale and when we actually went out it was dry, although it was threatening rain. We just decided to go on slicks, because the first stage was definitely going to be dry and the second one patchy and it paid dividends on both really. We took the second of the two quite carefully when it was wet and damp, but then going into the last one there was a big downpour and unfortunately we just lost the back end.

It was very bizarre. We had effectively what you would see with a motorcycle around a race circuit - the car did a high-side. Coming around a very fast left hand bend, I had the power on and the back started to slide on the shiny part. However on the edge of the road it gripped and that threw the car back in the opposite direction, which was very strange. But that is what happened and we unfortunately went through a hedge and it put a radiator fan blade through the radiator, so obviously it wasn't wise to continue.

Q:
Next up in the BRC is the Isle of Man International Rally. Are you looking forward to that?

GW:
Yeah definitely, we know we have got the pace to win. We have just got to keep the car on the road, which we know we have got to do. We knew we had to do before - and it was just slightly unlucky [on the Jim Clark]. We weren't pushing too hard but in the wrong conditions we should have accepted we were on the wrong tyre a little bit more and respected that.

But yeah the Isle of Man, I am looking forward to it. I know we can go quickly over there. We had a great battle there last year when it was dry with Mark [Higgins] in the Super 1600 car. It is going to be another good battle. I'm looking forward to it immensely - should be good.

Q:
What is it like switching between the Lancer and the Focus?

GW:
Different! [laughs] Very different. But it is not a problem. I enjoy both of them. I have never had much experience of Group N cars and a lot of people say that they are boring and that they are this and they are that, I think maybe I had painted a bad picture in my head from what people had said