DARLINGTON'S Guy Wilks has won the second stage of the Prime Yalta Rally in his Peugeot UK 207 Super 2000.

The Briton edged Thierry Neuville, his Kronos Racing team-mate, by 1.4s to close to within 0.1s of the overall lead in the International Rally Challenge event in the Ukraine.

“It was very difficult with the grip changing all the time,” said Wilks.

Juho Hänninen was third fastest through the stage but the addition of a 10s penalty for a reported jump start means he failed to demote fellow Škoda driver Patrik Sandell from the final podium spot in the overall classification. The Finn is 11th overnight.

Crews are now heading back to service in Yalta prior to the ceremonial start. Friday’s opening stage gets underway at 08.44am.

Overall positions after SS2 1 Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul (Peugeot 207 S2000) 4m30.6s 2 Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh (Peugeot 207 S2000) +0.1s 3 Patrik Sandell/Staffan Parmander (Škoda Fabia S2000) +2.1s 4 Andreas Mikkelsen/Ola Fløene (Škoda Fabia S200) +2.2s 5 Toni Gardemeister/Tapio Suominen (Škoda Fabia S2000) +3.2s 6 Bryan Bouffier/Xavier Panseri (Peugeot 207 S2000) +3.5s 7 Jan Kopecký/Petr Starý (Škoda Fabia S2000) +5.5s 8 Giandomenico Basso/Mitia Dotta (PROTON Satria Neo S2000) +5.5s 9 Karl Kruuda/Martin Jeovoja (Škoda Fabia S2000) +6.7s 10 PG Andersson/Emil Axelsson (PROTON Satria Neo S2000) +8.5s