Wilks part of a Škoda 1-2-3 in Argentina

IRC: Guy Wilks scored the best result by a British driver on Rally Argentina for nine years, when he finished 2nd overall at the weekend in his Škoda UK Motorsport Fabia S2000.

Guy joins Colin McRae and Richard Burns as the only British drivers to score a podium finish in Argentina, and the first since 2001.

With Juho Hänninen winning and Jan Kopecký finishing 3rd, it was a fantastic result for Škoda – and its first 1-2-3 finish in international rallying. It’s the first time one manufacturer has taken all the three podium positions on Rally Argentina since Lancia in 1989.

The result extends Škoda’s lead at the top of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge manufacturers’ points table to 22 points, while Guy maintains 2nd in the drivers’ series, just five points behind Hänninen.

Co-driven by Phil Pugh – the third Welsh navigator (Nicky Grist, 1997 and Phil Mills, 2002, ’06) to grace the Rally Argentina podium – Guy set top three stage times throughout the 15 special stage event and was Hänninen’s nearest rival, having moved up to 2nd position on Saturday afternoon.

The 29-year old Darlington driver planned to attack on the opening two stages of Leg 2, but a brake pad ‘knock-off’ problem half way through the opening La Cumbre – Agua De Oro test cost him time and he completed the stage 2.1 seconds behind Hänninen. The longest (14 miles / 22.4kms) and highest (1471 metres) stage of the rally followed, but Ascochinga-La Cumbre was strewed with tyre-puncturing rocks and Guy sensibly played it safe and decided to continue to the finish at a fast pace, but without taking any risks.

Rally Argentina came to an exciting finale with a repeat run over the 2.5 mile (4km) super-special stage in downtown Villa Carlos Paz, which attracted a sell-out 12,000 crowd.

Having also finished 2nd in Brazil, Guy and the Škoda UK Motorsport team complete a magnificently successful trip to South Amercia, and return home having scored 16 points.

Guy Wilks: “We’ve had a fantastic two rallies in South America and the Škoda UK Motorsport team has done a magnificent job.

“Juho has driven very well in Argentina, and I would like to congratulate him and everyone at Škoda Motorsport for a fantastic rally result. Juho and I both scored sixteen points each in Brazil and Argentina, so I can’t be disappointed by finishing second in both, even though we would have seriously loved to have won one of the events.

“We had a push on the opening stage this morning, but a rock pushed the piston in a brake calliper back and for the last four or five kilometres we had brake knock off and a long pedal. It cleared itself at the end of the stage, but it cost us a handful of seconds, and instead of taking time off Juho as we’d hoped, we dropped two seconds.

“We maintained a controlled fast and safe pace after that to make sure we got the Škoda UK Motorsport Fabia S2000 to the finish. The car has run faultlessly again, and I’m looking forward to fine tuning the set-up and challenging for victory on our next event.”

Round 4 of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge is the Rally Islas Canarias 'Trofeo El Corte Ingles' (28 April-1 May).

Rally Argentina – provisional results (top six)
1. Juho Hänninen/ Mikko Markkula (Škoda Fabia S2000)…2:30.38.1
2. Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Škoda Fabia S2000)…+51.0
3. Jan Kopecký/Petr Starý (Škoda Fabia S2000)…+2.20.1
4. Gabriel Pozzo/Luis Stillo (Subaru Impreza)…+5.03.9
5. Federico Villagra/Jorge Companc (Ford Fiesta S2000)…+5.14.2
6. Bruno Magalhăes/Carlos Magalhăes (Peugeot 207 S2000)…+6.11.0

IRC points (Drivers’) after Round 3
1. Juho Hänninen…24pts
2. Guy Wilks…19pts
3. Jan Kopecký…15pts
4. Mikko Hirvonen…10pts
5. Kris Meeke…10pts
6. Bruno Magalhăes…9pts

IRC points (Manufacturers’) after Round 3
1. Škoda…46pts
2. Peugeot…24pts
3. M-Sport…14pts