Wilks prepared to settle for second place

Guy Wilks says he is prepared to settle for second place on Rally Argentina – unless Juho Hänninen suffers cruel luck on the final three stages of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier.

A brake problem towards the end of today’s opening stage effectively ended the British driver’s hopes of beating Hänninen, although the Škoda UK Motorsport Fabia S2000 driver says he will maintain his pace and pounce if the leader hits trouble.

“We had a push on the opening stage this morning, but a rock pushed the piston in a brake calliper back and for the last four or five kilometres we had brake knock off and a long pedal,” said Wilks. “It cleared itself at the end of the stage, but it cost us a handful of seconds – and instead of taking time off Juho, we lost two seconds.

“There is a bit of a gap now between me in second, Juho ahead and Kris Meeke behind in third, so the leading positions won’t change, unless someone has real bad luck on the last three stages.”