GUY Wilks secured a hardearned podium spot on his debut Intercontinental Rally Challenge event for Peugeot UK.

The Darlington rally driver crossed the line after the last of 13 stages in Monte Carlo on Saturday morning thinking he had finished fourth overall.

But when Stephane Sarrazin opted to take a time penalty before the final control, the Briton was promoted up the leaderboard.

Sarrazin (Peugeot France) is not competing in every event on this year’s IRC calendar, splitting his time between other motorsport projects, so was never going to be a championship contender.

Wilks, however, could pose a serious threat to the front-runners and, thanks to Sarazzin’s gesture, now has 15 points in the bag, ten behind rally winner, Frenchman Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot), and three behind Belgium’s Freddy Loix (Skoda).

It was not all plain sailing for Wilks and co-driver Phil Pugh in the 207 on what was the Monte’s centenary event.

He lost ground on Friday morning when an intercom fault made it difficult for him to hear Pugh’s pacenotes.

He also reported a few concerns with his rear suspension settings, which affected the handling of his car, while his decision to use soft compound tyres for the final pair of stages failed to deliver the pace he had hoped for.

“I think, first of all, anybody who’s a driver knows you never want to take the position in that way, but it wasn’t our decision,” Wilks said afterwards.

“As they say, c’est la vie. It was my first time in the car, so there was a big pressure, particularly from a manufacturer like Peugeot on a rally like Monte Carlo.

I thoroughly enjoyed the event but we were getting a little bit stressed last night.

“We lost a bit too much time with some decisions we made, but we got there in the end.”

Wilks put part of his success in France down to the seamless transition he has made between last year’s team Skoda and his new employer.

“It’s always a tricky situation when you change car and team,” he said.

“I felt comfortable in the car and Peugeot UK have been fantastic and made me feel very comfortable.

“All of this has allowed us to be very relaxed and that’s resulted in our classification.”