Wilks to fight on after Yalta setback

Guy Wilks is convinced that he can fight for victory in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge this season after languishing in fifth place at the finish of last week’s Prime Yalta Rally.

The Peugeot UK star was second after day one in Ukraine but was held back on day two by a spate of punctures. He will start round five, the Geko Ypres Rally later this month, in sixth position in the
drivers’ standings and 23 points adrift of first place.

“The clock always gets reset for every rally”, said Wilks, who finished third on Rallye Monte-Carlo in January. “We did nothing wrong in Yalta, just had two punctures. It’s not like I can say I made a genuine mistake to get them because I was on the road. That’s just how it is sometimes. We’ve had the bad luck, so has my team-mate Thierry [Neuville].”

“Of course I’m not happy to be fifth because we could have won in Yalta although
there’s no point saying that now. But we can challenge for victory once again, I’ve no doubt about that.”

Injury kept Wilks, 30, out of last year’s Ypres Rally but he contested the event in 2009 with the factory PROTON squad.