Good news for Wilks ahead of Sanremo start

Guy Wilks has already had good reason to celebrate even though Rallye Sanremo, round 10 of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, is still more than 12 hours away from starting.

The Škoda UK Motorsport driver became a father for the first time on Tuesday night when his girlfriend Sarah gave birth to a baby daughter, Florence Amilie. To mark the new arrival, Wilks’ mechanics placed ‘Welcome Florence Amilie’ stickers on the side of his Fabia Super 2000.

“They’re both home from hospital and are doing well,” said Wilks. “My commitments with Škoda UK Motorsport have kept me away from home for a while so I had to leave Sarah to get on with it all on her own.”

On the day prior to the birth Wilks was completing a pre-event test, which the Briton said had been a success. “We were just short of 100 kilometres,” said the 29-year-old. “It was our first proper test on Tarmac since April and we were able to do some things to the car, which are going in the direction I went them to go in. We also managed 20 kilometres at night, which will be good practice for [Friday’s Ronde stage].”