GUY Wilks was forced to play second fiddle to Suzuki team-mate P-G Andersson in Greece at the weekend, but still managed to consolidate his second place in the Junior World Rally Championship.

Wilks had a dramatic start to the rally when he hit a rock and holed the gearbox casing at the start of day one. He was forced to limp back to service and dropped down to fifth in the rankings.

There were more dramas for Wilks at the end of the day when he was stuck behind a car with a puncture whose driver could not see him.

But this was the start of an epic fightback. With a string of rapid stage times, Wilks clawed his way back up the leaderboard, his reward being a second place in class at the finish, along with second in the championship.

The Darlington driver said: "It's not been an easy event, but you never expect that in the Acropolis Rally!

"It's a pity that we had those problems on the opening day, as I think our subsequent pace shows what we would have been capable of.

"However, there's no point in speculating on what might have been - I'm very happy to finish second and take the points. It's brilliant for Suzuki to have four cars in the top four, this result just goes to show the strength and speed of the Ignis in these types of very difficult conditions."

Wilks will be back in action on the next JWRC round, Rally Finland from August 5-7.

* County Durham racer Amanda Whitaker had a rollercoaster ride at the weekend racing at Germany's famous Nurburgring circuit in rounds three and four of the European Historic Formula 2 Championship.

Having never been to the track before and with restricted mileage in qualifying, Whitaker was impressively into her stride in the first race and despite a vibration causing a loose rear wing, she still managed to finish a solid second in class behind German driver Hermann Unold.

For the second race a last minute setup alteration was made to the car by father, Ronnie, who was drafted in to support Whitaker's quest for the weekend.

The changes to the Chevron proved extremely effective and she was able to harry the class leader Unold in the opening laps. The battle was shortlived, however, as at the start of the fourth lap she suddenly slowed to a halt with driveshaft failure.

Whitaker is now a close second in class her championship, although she hopes to redress the situation at Silverstone in a month's time.

* Guisborough superbike rider Dennis Hobbs, recovered from a broken wrist, failed to finish the first race but was 17th in the second in round seven of the Bennetts British Superbike Championship at Knockhill at the weekend.

Published: 29/06/2005