THE last time the Union Flag flew over the top step of a rally podium was in the spring of 2002, when Colin McRae won the Safari Rally in Kenya. No one can predict when the flag will fly again for a British winner of a world rally.
While Richard Burns fights a brain tumour and Colin McRae has all but given up on world rallying to race at Le Mans and contest marathon rallies such as the Paris-Dakar, the hopes of British rally fans are in the hands of a fresh-faced trio of drivers with an average age of 21.
None of Kris Meeke, Guy Wilks and Matthew Wilson can win this weekend’s Rally of Great Britain; they are competing in the Junior World Rally Championship (JWRC), whose 1,600cc cars will run a few minutes behind the more powerful machines driven by stars such as Petter Solberg and Carlos Sainz. But all three youngsters have the talent to follow Burns and McRae.
Wilks, from Darlington, is farthest up the ladder to a seat with a world rally team. The 25-year-old, who is third in the JWRC after a win on the Acropolis Rally in Athens in June, has a contract with Suzuki’s JWRC factory team.
What Meeke, an Ulsterman, lacks in results he makes up for in talent and contacts. Regarded as the most naturally gifted of the trio, the 23-year-old also has the advantage of McRae’s backing.
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Wilson is only 17 but has potential and is supported by his father, Malcolm, a former British champion and principal at the Ford rally team. The Cumbrian schoolboy is third in the British Championship.
“Given the right environment, they all have the potential to become world champions,” Robbie Head, the ITV pundit and former Renault works driver, said. “In many ways they have achieved more in the time they have been rallying than Colin and Richard, who took much longer to get to the same level.”
Meeke and Wilks have attracted interest from factory team managers. Wilks is hopeful of riding Suzuki’s coat-tails into the top league in 2006 while McRae is in talks to get Meeke a test in a top car.
“I certainly wouldn’t be backing Kris if I had any doubts about him,” McRae said. “We need to get British drivers back in the top of rallying. I get a lot of people who say they don’t watch the sport any more since Richard and I stopped.”