Sarrazin hands podium to Wilks

Guy Wilks has scored the first British podium on the Monte Carlo Rally since 2003, following Peugeot's decision to drop Stephane Sarrazin to fourth to help Wilks' Intercontinental Rally Challenge title aspirations

David Evans Jan 22, 2011, 11:03 AM

Wilks will contest the whole IRC season with the Peugeot UK team, while Sarrazin's Monte Carlo Rally outing was a one-off.

Sarrazin checked into the final control three minutes late to allow Wilks through.

"It's a team decision," Sarrazin said. "I do as I am told. It's tough, but I understand this is the sport sometimes. This helps Guy to be in a better points position for the championship.

"The main thing is that Peugeot won this event and we had a very strong final day - without the gearbox problem we could have been fastest on every stage."

Revised result:

Pos  Driver              Car        Time/Gap
 1.  Bryan Bouffier      Peugeot  3h32m55.7s
 2.  Freddy Loix         Skoda       + 32.5s
 3.  Guy Wilks           Peugeot   + 1m19.7s
 4.  Stephane Sarrazin   Peugeot   + 1m21.9s
 5.  Francois Delecour   Peugeot   + 1m22.4s
 6.  Juho Hanninen       Skoda     + 1m29.3s
 7.  Nicolas Vouilloz    Skoda     + 4m47.8s
 8.  Jan Kopecky         Skoda     + 7m45.9s
 9.  Giandomenico Basso  Peugeot   + 8m46.0s
10.  Toni Gardemeister   Peugeot   + 9m09.0s