by Rob Wilkins


TO HEAR THE INTERVIEW IN FULL WITH GUY WILKS: CLICK HERE


Reigning British Rally champion Guy Wilks will be out to get his title defence back on track on the Rally Yorkshire this weekend - and the Englishman is gunning for a maximum points haul.

Crash.net Radio caught up with the Mitsubishi #1 at the Castle Combe Rallyday recently and got his thoughts ahead of the Trackrod. We also spoke to him about the 'Wilks 500 Club' and his bid to get a WRC drive with the Subaru World Rally Team in 2009 through that investment/sponsorship scheme...


Crash.net:
Guy, how are you going to approach the Trackrod?

Guy Wilks:
The same as always, we are going to try and win it. It is as simple as that. That is what we always try and do in the British championship. There is a bit of pressure on. We have not had so much luck - myself and the team - over the last three tarmac rounds. But we are still in with a shout of the championship. Everybody seems to have, not written us off, but think that it is going in Mark [Higgins]'s direction. I am going to do my best to stop that.

Crash.net:
If you look at the results you have had one DNF this season, one win and two second places, which means it is still all to play for...

GW:
Definitely, but we have got to make sure we collect some wins. We need at least two wins out of the last three rounds [Wales Rally GB is a double-header – Ed] and for Mark to finish lower than second. But we will see how it goes. It is one of those things. We have never slackened off the pedal, the team or myself or Phil [Pugh] and David [Moynihan]. Obviously I have had a different co-driver in the car and David is going to continue on the Trackrod. Phil is not quite 100 per cent fit. But that is not an issue. We won last year on the Trackrod and I am definitely looking forward to it.

Crash.net:
The Trackrod is a one-day event - and a very fast one too.

GW:
It is a very fast event. There is a lot of straights and very high-speed. A lot of people say it is just straights and junctions. It is a little bit more than that. But yes, some very high speed sections.

Crash.net:
The 'Wilks 500 Club' was launched back in the summer in a bid to get you a drive with the Subaru WRT in 2009. Tell us about that.

GW:
I could have ended up with egg on my face but it is going really well. We passed half a million a couple of weeks ago now. I am really encouraged by the people that come and actually backed me. Some people I haven't met before and some people I do know. It is quite humbly to see how many people have actually backed me. From that point of view it is actually quite nice to see the support. But in another way we still need more. We are still looking for a good chunk of money. However you never know where it is coming from next and you can't really second guess it. We have just got to keep our heads down and work hard at it.

Crash.net:
Do you have any deadlines in terms of when you need to get the money in place?

GW: