DARLINGTON rally driver Guy Wilks has made a solid start to the Czech Rally – successfully surviving an exciting opening five stages, which have included a close encounter with a deer, a spin, a torrential downpour of rain when on slick tyres and a flash fire at the refuel.

However, it’s all in half a day’s work for the 29-year old Škoda UK Motorsport driver, who is delighting the thousands of spectators on his return to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.

Co-driven by Phil Pugh, Wilks was seventh fastest on last night’s super-special stage and fifth quickest on the opening stage today, before a deer ran into the side of his car a kilometre into SS3.

A spin later on in the stage saw Guy stall the engine and drop a little bit of time and a wisely cautious approach on a very wet SS5 saw him arrive at the midday service in 12th position.

It’s been an incredibly hectic and close start to the event, and while the top drivers are separated by tenths of a second, Škoda Motorsport’s Jan Kopecký stands out having established a healthy 24.2 second lead. Conditions have been very demanding, as Kopecký’s team-mate and IRC leader Juho Hänninen found out when he lost 30 seconds with an off-road excursion on SS5.

While the morning’s loop of four stages were, apart from the last, largely dry, dark clouds have appeared over the Moravian region and tyre choice is going to be both difficult and crucial for this afternoon’s repeat runs.

After a few small dramas, Wilks is 2mins 32.5 seconds behind Kopecký after five stages, but only 40.5 seconds off eighth place.

“We had a good start, despite the tyres being a little too hard for the conditions," Wilks said.

"We were flat out down a straight near the start of stage three, with trees on one side of the road and bushes on the other, when a deer ran into the side of the car.

"There was a hell of a bang and I was still thinking about it when I braked late for a fast right junction a few kilometres later. I had to use the handbrake to slow down, spun and stalled the engine.

“At the remote refuel, some fuel came out of the breather and the rear of the car lit up in a fireball. The fire marshal put the blaze out and there wasn’t any damage, but it added to what had been a pretty dramatic morning.

“Finally there was a delay at the start of stage five and by the time we started it was raining heavily, so on slick tyres we had to take it easy. I think we had the worst of the conditions in there and even driving cautiously we had a half spin.

“The repeat runs over the four stages this afternoon are likely to be just as tricky, and probably more so with over 100 cars having pulled mud and stones out onto the road.

"We’ll just go out there and continue to try and do our best – and avoid the wildlife if at all possible.”