GUY Wilks was lying third in class and 25th overall after seven stages of the Wales Rally GB.

The 23-year-old from Darlington moved up eight places after Thursday's opening stage in Cardiff.

Wilks, who drives a Suzuki Ignis Sport for Dealer Team Suzuki, said the day's exploits were not without incident.

"On Special Stage Three we slid wide and punctured a left rear tyre," he said. "I also collected a time penalty for a jump start."

Wilks also suffered problems with his intercom on Special Stage Five and on the next nearly rolled the car and knocked the tracking out as a consequence.

The rally, round 12 of the FIA World Rally Championship, finishes in Cardiff tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Scorton's Steve Petch saw his rally over before it even started.

The Hyundai Accent driver from Scorton didn't even get underway after encountering problems with the turbo on the way down on Thursday.

"Obviously it was a bitter disappointment to go out," he said after retiring. "We were driving towards the official start of the rally on the M4 in Cardiff and the engine lost power. We checked under the bonnet and the turbo had blown so that was it - end of story."

Meanwhile at the front, Petter Solberg reeled in leader Sebastien Loeb with a hat-trick of stage wins yesterday.

Solberg won three consecutive stagesin the afternoon to move back into contention for victory after a disappointing start to the rally's first full day.

Solberg started the morning slowly but has crept back into contention and moved into second place with victory on stage six.

His win on stage seven, the last of the day, slashed Loeb's advantage to 8.4 seconds and keeps alive his dream of retaining the world title.

Loeb, who drives for Citroen, is 30 points clear in the title race and, with just 50 left to play for, Solberg knows he cannot miss the opportunity to close in this weekend.

* The championship may be over but there's still one battle left for Shildon rally driver Barry Johnson.

Despite thinking he had lost any chance of taking the County Saab Scottish Rally title after his rival Raymond Munro laid claim to the honour, it appears all might not be what it seems.

Johnson and co-driver Stewart Merry went to the Park Systems Stages Rally last weekend in the knowledge that if they beat Munro and his team-mate John Bennie, Merry would win the co-drivers championship.

However, at signing on it was pointed out to Johnson that, contrary to what he believed, he could still become the drivers champion, if he both beat Munro and the Scot finished third or worse.

With Munro failing to complete the rally after suffering a double puncture, Johnson - despite suffering a fire and a puncture himself - duly went on to win the event and throw the title fight up in the air.

"Raymond proclaimed himself the champion after six events but someone from the committee of the Scottish Rally Championship pointed out to me that that's not necessarily the case," he said. "Six scores were supposed to count and he has four wins and two seconds but he hasn't finished any of the other rounds, either crashing out or retiring.

"I have ended up with four firsts and three seconds and as far as the regulations are concerned I am now saying I have won the championship."

Johnson and Munro were locked on 176 points but Munro believed he had won on countback. However, having won at the weekend, Johnson now has 204 points to Munro's 176 and he is hoping the committee apply the letter of the law and award him the title. Whichever way they decide the matter won't end there though.

"If I win he'll appeal and if he wins I'll appeal," said Johnson. "It will go to the Motorsports Association."

A formal announcement is due in the next couple of weeks.

Published: 18/09/2004