Guy Wilks is 2007 British Rally Champion
03 December 2007
Guy Wilks and Phil Pugh are 2007 Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally
Champions after scoring a straight pair of wins on Wales Rally GB.
They
took the win on the first day of the gruelling event which counted
as round six of the Championship with chief rival Mark Higgins trailing
in third after three frustrating punctures.
This left the Mitsubishi
Motors UK crew only needing third place themselves on round seven to
secure the title. Saturday saw Wilks and Higgins battle it out while
Gwyndaf Evans suffered transmission failure. But Wilks not only achieved
sufficient points but eked a lead over Higgins, who had transmission
troubles of his own on the last three stages of the event.
“We
knew what we had to do and it is a great result for the whole team,” said
an exuberant Wilks at the end of the final stage, “We
had a bit of a scare on the same stage Mark first had his gearbox troubles,
but it all came good in the end.”
As the crews arrived in Cardiff
it was clear that Higgins involvement at the finish ceremony was by
the skin of his teeth, "We've lost
all but third gear," he explained, "Obviously I'm gutted
about the championship - it's not been a good year."
David Higgins
took his Subaru to a creditable third place albeit disappointed about
an early puncture. “The team have done a great job and
I think if it weren't for the breakdowns early in the year we could
have had a much better Championship position.”
Wyn Humphreys overtook
Rob Swann on the final pair of stages for fourth after Swann suffered
two punctures. “We've completed 23 rallies
with just one retirement,” said Humphreys, “so it is great
to finish our first BRC season in fourth place; it’s a reward
for the boys.”
Swann was crestfallen to have dropped a place in
the dying stages of the event. “I can't believe it.” He
shrugged, “To
have lost time when we were on a charge to catch David (Higgins). And
then to lose a place to Wyn again!”
Rob Gill used Super Rally
to post fifth while David Meredith was sixth, both in Mitsubishis with
Darren Gass the first of the two wheel drive finishers in his Citroën.
Jonny Greer took ninth and rounding off the top ten was a relieved
Hugh Evans.
See
2007 series calendar for British
Rally Championships
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