Honda/JAS Motorsport preview

Rally Finland
World Rally Championship
Jyvaskyla

Guy Wilks and the Honda Civic Type R R3 will take on the fastest and most spectacular rally in the world this weekend - Rally Finland, formerly known as the 'Rally of the Thousand Lakes'.

Finland, the birthplace of more World Rally Champions than any other country, is well known as the spiritual home of rallying. It is famed for its super-fast forest tracks and big, big jumps.

The event is always closely contested, and it is estimated that a fifth of the country's five million population turns out to watch it.

Last weekend Wilks and Italian team JAS Motorsport, which builds and runs the Honda Civic Type R R3, completed a successful test on a variety of different roads in Finland, racking up 300 kilometres with no problems at all.

"It was a busy schedule but we did a lot of useful set-up work and underlined the basic reliability of the car," said Wilks, who led his class commandingly during both his previous outings with the Civic, in Australia and Russia.

"I think the nature of the roads should suit the car very well and we're aiming for a solid finish with a good result as well. The Mugen prepared Honda engine in particular is extremely strong, which is absolutely vital on a quick rally like this one."

The Englishman counts the Finnish rally as one of his favourite events, having claimed his first podium in the Junior World Rally Championship on the fast roads around the rally's base in Jyvaskyla in 2003.

He won the Junior WRC class there in 2006 - making him the first Brit to win an FIA category in Finland - and finished ninth in a Ford Focus RS WRC05 last year after hurting his back after a jump.

"I definitely feel an affinity with the roads," added the 27 year-old. "Maybe it comes from my background of riding motocross bikes.

"Of course the speeds are much slower, but you do get an idea of how to jump the bike and the correct lines to take. I've got a good bit of experience of Finland now, having contested it five times previously, so I think we've got every right to be optimistic."

JAS Motorsport Team Principal Alessandro Mariani commented: "The whole team has been working very hard improving the reliability and we've gone through a very intense test program in order to be ready for the such difficult challenge in Finland."

The Rally Finland gets under way with a superspecial stage at Killeri on Thursday night (31 July) at 19:45. The crews will contest a total of 24 special stages, making up 340.42 competitive kilometres, before the finish back in Jyvaskyla at 13:30 on Sunday 3 August.