Wilks: Finishing is the priority

Wilks won the sixth stage of the event - Drummond Hill - beating Meeke by five seconds to halve the IRC champion's advantage heading into the day's final test.

"I've got a job to do here," said Wilks. "I've got to be professional. This car has to be at the finish. Don't get me wrong, it would be nice to win, but that's not the priority."

Wilks added that he felt he had proved his ability in the Skoda.

"The IRC champion was here for a victory parade and we've made sure that he hasn't had it all his own way," said Wilks. "We've been trading blow for blow. I'm pleased with the way it's gone - particularly bearing in mind we only had 50km of testing in this car before the start."

Meeke admitted he had been cautious through Drummond Hill, where he had crashed a Ford Escort Mk2 out of the lead on the McRae Stages Rally last year.

"I had a bad experience in there when we went off in the Escort," said Meeke. "I said to my co-driver that I didn't mind if we lost three or four seconds by taking a cautious approach.

"We lost five seconds, it's not the end of the world. I'm confident that nobody is going to take 10 seconds or anything like that out of me, we might drop a second or two here and there, but we only need to win by a tenth."

Alister McRae remains in third place after a trouble-free run in the Proton Satria Neo S2000. The Scotsman has been hampered by running first on the road through the last two stages, but otherwise the 1995 British Rally champion is enjoying his return to the Scottish stages.