6:22pm Wednesday 8th October 2008
By Matt Westcott
GUY Wilks bid to land a seat with the Subaru works rally team next year has found backing from an influensive quarter.
The late Colin McRae's former co-driver Nicky Grist is urging motor racing fans to back the Darlington drivers Wilks 500 Club which is aiming to raise the funds necessary to land the drive with the crack team.
Wilks, who won last years the Tesco 99 Octane MSA British Rally Championship, launched his bid to team up with Petter Solberg and Chris Atkinson back in the summer.
He said the scheme was going well, but more sponsorship was needed to turn the dream into reality.
Grist, meanwhile, reckons Wilks could definitely make the grade at the top level of the sport given the chance.
"The 'Wilks 500 Club' is a great incentive and I hope people do take up the opportunity to make this happen. Guy has never really had a fair crack at the whip," Grist said.
"He has done a few events and he had the opportunity with Ford with limited sponsorship. But it comes to the point where you can't always make it happen when you have got such a small programme.
"You have got to have at least 12 or 14 events under your belt before you can really start showing what you can do. At the moment he hasn't had the opportunity to get into the swing of World Rally Cars and the World Rally Championship at the top level. He needs a lot more events before he can start showing what he can do.
"This opportunity with Subaru, if he can get the money together, is great. I think that once he builds up some experience he will start putting in some very solid and commendable times."
Anyone wishing to find out more about the 'Wilks 500 Club' can visit www.guywilks.com for more details.
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