Wilks fastest, Meeke back in third place

Škoda UK´s Guy Wilks gave spectators at the RACMSA Rally of Scotland a taste of what might have been by going fastest on today´s opening stage, but because he is restarting the event after missing yesterday´s last two stages his time of 10m4.1s will not count. Juho Hänninen continues to lead the rally for Škoda Motorsport after clocking up a 10m8.2s.

"I’m just going to drive and see what we can do," said Wilks. "A lot of people turned up to watch yesterday and we don’t want to disappoint them. We want to put on a show."

"That was a bit of an eye-opener," said Peugeot UK’s Kris Meeke after recording a time of 10m6.8s. "A few hundred yards into the stage there was a small tree across the road. It must have been knocked over by somebody else. I had to stop and go over it slowly."

"It was quite difficult to avoid the wood on the road, there was a lot of debris," said Hänninen.

Andreas Mikkelsen was fourth fastest and dropped 1.5s to Hänninen, but remains in second place overall. "It’s very important to the team to finish the event on the podium," he said. "I’d like to go fast, so I’ll try to find something in between."

Thierry Neuville lost third place to Meeke after picking up a puncture on the stage. "There were some big rocks on the road. I hit one about four or five kilometres up the road so I had to drive the rest with a flat tyre. We also saw the tree on the road and had to make a big cut to go around it."

The Protons of Alister McRae and Tom Cave were fifth and sixth fastest. Since McRae is restarting after missing most of yesterday’s stages, his times today will not count towards the overall result, while fifth-placed Cave is closing in on Neuville.

"Yesterday was disappointing, I wanted to get a good result in my home event." said McRae. "Today is all about getting some miles on the car because we’ve got another rally in China in a couple of weeks."

Jonathan Greer’s Ralliart Lancer Evo IX was the fastest Group N entry, 1.2s ahead of David Bogie, who was first in the starting order.

"The boys did a great job in service yesterday and everything’s working perfectly now," said Greer.

"There’s gong to be certain element of road sweeping with being first on the road," said Bogie, "but I’m able to choose my line and I’m not being forced into the cuts. The car feels a bit loose at the back so we’ll have to look at that. We’ll keep plodding on and hopefully one or two of the people up ahead will fall by the wayside."

Siim Plangi heads the denuded 2WD field in his Honda Civic Type R with a commanding advantage over the Fiesta R2 of Harry Hunt, who cracked his sump on this stage and will have to nurse the car to the finish. Colin Smith restarted the rally after retiring early yesterday with gearbox failure. His Civic Type R now has a standard road car gearbox and Smith’s stated aim is simply to get to the finish.

"It was the hardest one yet, the biggest stage of them all," said Plangi. "I had to be a little bit cautious."

Overall positions after SS9:

Stages 9 & 11 Clashmore

The first of two stages in the Trossachs region. The action of Day 2 is very condensed where stamina and concentration will be tested. Clashmore is a new stage, replacing Achray, and is is a cracker. It’s 16km in length and more of a technical challenge than Achray. The start is very narrow with off-camber corners before joining a new forest road that takes in part of the Loch Ard stage. The final two-thirds are very fast and the committed driver will make the most of this test.

Guy Wilks says: “Given how demanding the other stages are, I’m really looking forward to driving Clashmore for the first time – which is new for this year’s Rally of Scotland. I’ve heard that it’s quite technical, narrow in places with off-camber corners and very fast towards the end. It should be a great addition to the rally.”