Škoda UK Motorsport driver Guy Wilks achieved his aim of finishing in the points on his comeback rally by keeping his sliding Fabia S2000 Facelift in check over the slippery Moravian region asphalt stages to bring it home in 7th place on the Barum Czech Rally Zlín. A tremendous 1-2-3 finish on its home event sees Škoda win the 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge manufacturers’ title with three rounds remaining.

It was by no means an easy return to the IRC for Guy after his injury-enforced three month absence. A wild deer caused considerable side panel damage when it ran into his car on SS3, a flash fire at a refuel engulfed the back of the car in flames, heavy showers of rain when running on slick tyres made driving all the more hazardous and, most significantly of all, a problem with the rear differential on all 17 stages made the car difficult to keep in a straight line over the bumps, extremely nervous under braking and more like a front-wheel drive car in the corners.

Whilst so many of his rivals crashed out in the difficult conditions, the mere fact that Guy was able to overcome such problems, climb back up the leaderboard from 12th position (after SS5) and score a solid points-scoring result on his comeback event was just reward for a very professional, measured and intelligent drive.

Co-driven by Phil Pugh, who celebrated his 40th birthday on the day the rally started, the 29-year old Darlington driver was quickly back into his stride and showed absolutely no signs of the back injury he sustained 12 weeks before – confirming that he is back to near full physical fitness.

It was a wonderful home rally for Škoda, which locked out the podium on an IRC event for the fourth time this season. Local hero and defending Barum Czech Rally Zlínwinner Jan Kopecký led the event from the start, but crashed out four stages from the end. This handed the lead to Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot 207 S2000), until he was overtaken by Freddy Loix (Škoda Fabia S2000) on the penultimate stage. In an another exciting IRC finale, Bouffier slid off the road and lost seven minutes on the last stage – ensuring not only the rally win for Loix, but giving Škoda a 1-2-3 podium finish, with Juho Hänninen and Pavel Valoušek finishing 2nd and 3rd, and with it the IRC manufacturers’ crown.

Guy Wilks: “Seventh is not exactly the result we were aiming for, and the problems we encountered along the way were not what we wanted on our comeback event, but we’ve had just about everything thrown at us in the Czech Republic this weekend – including wildlife!



“It’s been incredibly difficult the whole time, but we’ve kept going, the team has worked well and tried really hard, and having problems is one of those things. It’s been good for mental strength to discipline ourselves and the team and keep going forward when things weren’t perfect.

“Unfortunately with the rear diff problems we experienced throughout the event we were just losing too much time, especially in the wet. We didn’t have a lot of drive from the rear at all, so our Fabia S2000 was effectively a front-wheel drive car with a little bit of push from the rear. We struggled for traction out of the corners, we had understeer in the corners and in the braking zones the car was quite nervous. On the bumpy damp roads around Zlín, it was very difficult to keep the car in check, no pun intended! If it happened on a dry smooth rally it wouldn’t have mattered so much, but on this event the car was darting from left to right the whole time and it was a real handful.

“It’s the first mechanical issue we’ve had with the car all season, so we have to be thankful for that, and even in the dry here we had good pace. Without the rear diff problem I’m convinced we’d have been right on the pace and challenging for a place on the podium.

“Physically I’m fine; I feel great. It’s been a physically demanding rally, but I’ve come through it with no aches and pains in my back and I’m very pleased. I didn’t expect any to be honest, but it’s nice to reach the end of my first rally after the injury I had and be proved right.

“I’d like to congratulate Freddy on another fantastic win, Škoda Motorsport on another incredible one-two-three result and Škoda on winning the IRC manufacturers’ title. It’s been a magnificent year for Škoda Motorsport, and it deserves all the success it is enjoying.”

The next round of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge is the Sanremo Rally in Italy on September 24-25.

Barum Czech Rally Zlín results (provisional top 10)

1. Freddy Loix/Fréderic Miclotte (Škoda Fabia S2000)… 2hr 31mins 31.0secs

2. Juho Hänninen/ Mikko Markkula (Škoda Fabia S2000)…+25.0secs

3. Pavel Valoušek/Zden?k Hr?za (Škoda Fabia S2000)…+1min 20.2secs

4. Kris Meeke/Paul Nagle (Peugeot 207 S2000)…+1min 57.6secs

5. Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Floene (Ford Fiesta S2000)…+2mins 33.9secs

6. VáclavPech/Petr Uhel (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX)…+3min 07.4secs

7. Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Škoda Fabia S2000)…+3mins 41.1secs

8. Jaromír Tarabus/DanielTrunkát (Ford Fiesta S2000)…+ 5mins 18.0secs

9. Tomáš Kostka/Vít Houš? (Škoda Fabia S2000)…+6mins 13.1secs

10. Bryan Bouffier/Xavier Panseri (Peugeot 207 S2000)…+6mins 52.2secs*

IRC points (Drivers’) after Round 9

1. Juho Hänninen…56pts

2. Jan Kopecký…47pts

3. Freddy Loix…30pts

4. Bruno Magalh?es…30pts

5. Kris Meeke…28pts

6. Guy Wilks…27pts

IRC points (Manufacturers’) after Round 9

1. Škoda…120pts

2. Peugeot…79pts

3. M-Sport…31pts

4. Ralliart…22pts

5. Subaru…11pts

Follow Guy and co-driver Phil on:

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