AFTER crashing out of the Pirelli International Rally on home turf at the weekend, Guy Wilks knows the pressure is on.

Wilks, 23, is one of the rising stars of rallying and hoped to be at the head of the field during the opening round of the British Rally Championship.

However, a freak accident in the challenging Kielder Forest put paid to his title aspirations in the Super 1600 class, the Suzuki Ignis driver forced to retire on only the second stage of the ten stage event.

Wilks' problems came after a competitor he was following crashed on Stage One on Friday night, rolled his car and ended up facing the opposite way with his headlights right in the face of the North-East driver.

As a result Wilks misjudged the entry into a corner and broke part of the suspension. He managed to limp to the service area and he and co-driver Phil Pugh attended to the problem. However, on Stage Two they found themselves in a ditch, the result of effectively steering on just one wheel, and their rally was over.

"It was a massive setback, " Wilks said. "We lost about four or five minutes on the first stage and that was it. The most disappointing thing was we didn't even get to set a good time.

"We were here to win Super 1600 and see what we could do.

The preparation had gone fantastically well and then something so bizarre like that happens. Word got round in the service area and a lot of people said 'bloody hell mate, that's genuine bad luck'."

Wilks, backed by Suzuki GB for both the British Championship and the Junior World Rally Championship, said if it had been down to driver error, he would have accepted his exit a little easier.

"My team manager was very understanding, which was nice, " he said. "It would have been easier to take if it had been driver error - I could have held my hands up and said 'Yeah, 100 per cent, my fault, sorry'.

"But it was just one of those things - my co-driver said 'you can't blame yourself for that'. It was bizarre, almost."

In three weeks the British Championship heads to Wales and Wilks knows he has to post a better result.

"We have got to win that round, no ifs, buts or maybes, " he said.

"There is definite pressure there. Obviously, it's a Suzuki factory drive almost, although it's only a dealer team in Suzuki GB running it."

Published: 27/04/2004