COUNTY Durham rally driver Guy Wilks gave the new Proton Satria a promising debut as he led the Pirelli International Rally after the opening two stages in Kershope Forest, despite losing his rear windscreen after a heavy landing on the opening stage.

Darlington's Wilks, the current British Champion who is looking for a hat-trick of wins on the Carlisle-based event, led the Subaru of Mark Higgins by just 18 seconds with Phillip Morrow (Mitsubishi) a further ten seconds adrift in third place. Higgins slowed when he heard a noise underneath the car which turned out to be the under shield coming loose.

The dusty conditions made life difficult for drivers on stage one. Adam Gould clipped a couple of rocks, Kris Hall punctured one mile in and lost a significant amount of time. He inadvertently baulked the following cars of Craig Breen and Tom Walster. Daniel Siguardason paid a visit to a Kershope ditch, Kyle Orr reached the end of the stage with a puncture (F/OS) Peter Stephenson survived a full 360 degree spin, while Euan Thorburn was another to pick up a puncture damaging a driveshaft in the process.

There were more dramas on stage two. Martin McCormack got away with a spin, Barry Greer lost three minutes with a puncture, Molly Taylor’s Suzuki suffered a bent steering rack, Mark Gamble hit a rock and snapped the exhaust and Gordon Nichol’s Suzuki had an oversteering problem.

The cars headed back to Carlisle for an overnight halt before today’s marathon run over the Kielder stages.