Newsflash 4

Issued at 20:30          19-04-2008

There was a repeat victory for Guy Wilks and Phil Pugh on the Pirelli International Rally, the current British Champions leading from the start to finish to score their second successive win on the Carlisle based event.

Finnish stars Juho Hanninen and Mikko Markkula were second for Mitsubishi who were denied a clean sweep of podium places by the Subaru N14 of David Higgins and Ieuan Thomas.

 Wilks’ teammates Phillip Morrow and Daniel Barritt were only 7 seconds behind Higgins going into the final stage but were unable to claw back the deficit despite a valiant effort when they posted an almost identical time, a mere one tenth of a second faster than Higgins!

The Pirelli International Rally proved to be a tough curtain raiser to the Tesco 99 Octane British Rally Championship season with only 26 of the 48 starters making it into the finish ramp in Carlisle City centre. Wilks, however, made it all look very easy, setting the quickest time on no fewer than 11 of the rally’s 13 stages. An early challenge from Mark Higgins came to nothing when the MG S2000 was spotted parked up in SS10.

There was intense interest in the entry of European Champion Simon Jean-Joseph in the new Citroen C2R2-Max. The French star initially led his class but retired on stage 9 with mechanical problems.

There was a similar rate of attrition among the one make series. Gordon and Jane Nichol were the only Suzuki Swift Cup crew to make it round the whole route although Nick Rowland and Tim Sturla were classified as finishers under super rally rules. The Citroen C2R2 runners were similarly thinned out, with Andrew Hockridge and Tony Derrick enjoying a massive six and a half minute advantage over Martin Roberts and Rich Mills.

Results after SS 14

1. Guy Wilkes / Phillip Pugh                       Evo 9                        1.31.32.9

2. Juho Hanninen / Mikko Markkula          Evo 9                        1.32.38.4

3. David Higgins / Ieuan Thomas              Subaru N14             1.34.13.7

4. Phillip Morrow / Daniel Barritt                Evo 9                       1.34.21.1

5. Patrik Flodin / Goran Bergsten             Subaru N12             1.35.05.0

Photo John Williams