Wilks: no complaints ahead of IRC return

Guy Wilks says he won’t complain about his lack of recent seat time when he resumes his Intercontinental Rally Challenge bid on Barum Czech Rally Zlín tonight.

Wilks has not competed in the IRC since his crash on Rally d’Italia-Sardegna in June left him with fractures to his lower back.

He has now regained full fitness and completed 150 kilometres during a pre-event test earlier this week in his Škoda UK Motorsport Fabia S2000. He also managed six passes of the 4.88-kilometre shakedown stage this morning.

“I feel great, no pain or discomfort,” said Wilks. “We’re back at work now so it’s a case of getting on with it. For sure I’m lacking seat time but I’m not going to keep bringing it up as an excuse. We’ll do the best we can and there’s no more or less pressure on us because of what’s happened.”

Wilks, 29, said he was satisfied with how his shakedown had gone, adding: “I’m happy with what we’ve achieved although we could have done with a bit more running just to try out a few different things with the set-up. It was very wet this morning but the road had good grip. Then it dried and a lot of mud got dragged out and the road became very greasy so it was difficult to see the improvement in time.”