GUY is hoping to speed up his recovery by spending time in an oxygen chamber. The Skoda UK Motorsport driver fractured the first and second vertebrae in his lower back after a sixth gear accident on Rally d'Italia-Sardegna on Saturday.
He flew back to the UK on Monday night and visited a bone specialist in Ipswich on Tuesday.
Guy is now back home in the north east of England and has been given the full use of an oxygen chamber at the Multiple Sclerosis Society Therapy Centre in Middlesbrough.
Guy told guywilks.com: “The bone specialist was very positive and said that in terms of breaking your back, it’s not so bad.
"Sometimes with an injury like this you have to lay flat on your back for months, but he said that I can start training almost immediately by doing some exercises in a swimming pool.
"It’s important to keep the muscles moving and maintain my strength, and as we’re still third in the IRC and approaching the mid-season point, I’ve got plenty of goals to aim for.
“The oxygen chamber will increase the number and flow of the red blood cells, which will help to speed up the growth of the bone and heal the fracture quicker.
“I’m feeling better every day, and I’d like to thank everyone who has contacted me by ‘phone and via Facebook for all the get well messages.”
Guy's co-driver Phil Pugh was unhurt in the accident.
GUY was given the all-clear to fly home to the UK today (Monday) and will see a bone specialist tomorrow.
The Skoda UK Motorsport driver fractured two vertebrae in his lower back after a sixth gear accident on the opening stage of Rally d'Italia-Sardegna on Saturday, round five of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
He was released the San Martino Hospital in Oristano to join Skoda UK guests on a direct flight to Luton.
He will then see a back specialist to assess his condition, before deciding on how soon he can return to action.
Co-driver Phil Pugh, who was unhurt in the crash, has been keeping Guy company in the hospital since Saturday.
Guy said: "I'd like to thank the doctors and nurses for taking such good care of me and for all the goodwill messages I have received.
"I'm in good spirits and looking forward to getting home, seeing a specialist and planning our next rally.
"Congratulations to Juho and Jan and the entire Skoda Motorsport team on another fantastic rally result. Sardinia is a tough event and together we have demonstrated the speed and strength of the Fabia S2000."
Rally d'Italia-Sardegna – provisional results (top six) 1. Juho Hänninen/Mikko Markkula (Škoda Fabia S2000)…2:31.28.6
2. Paolo Andreucci/Anna Andreussi (Peugeot 207 S2000)…+35.6
3. Jan Kopecký/Petr Starý (Škoda Fabia S2000)…+ 38.25
4. Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Klinger (Peugeot 207 S2000)…+5.58.6
5. Bruno Magalhăes/Carlos Magalhăes (Peugeot 207 S2000)…+9.55.8
6. Teemu Arminen/Tuomo Nikkola (GpN Subaru Impreze)…+10.12.3
IRC points (Drivers’) after Round 5
1. Juho Hänninen…42pts
2. Jan Kopecký…31pts
3. Guy Wilks…25pts
4. Bruno Magalhăes…17pts
5. Kris Meeke…15pts
6. Mikko Hirvonen…10pts
IRC points (Manufacturers’) after Round 5
1. Škoda…80pts
2. Peugeot…46pts
3. M-Sport…15pts
GUY has vowed to bounce back after fracturing two vertebrae in an accident on the opening stage of Rally d'Italia-Sardegna today, round five of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
He slid off the road on a fast sixth-gear corner, 7kms into the 28km Monte Grighine stage being screened live on Eurosport, and hit a large boulder with the underside of the Skoda UK Fabia S2000.
Fortunately, co-driver Phil Pugh was unhurt in the crash.
Guy got out of the car unaided and immediately laid down on the ground to comfort his back, while Phil alerted the team.
A medical helicopter arrived quickly to airlift Guy to the nearby town of Oristano, from where he was transferred the short distance to the San Martino Hospital by ambulance.
An x-ray of his lower back revealed that the first and second vertebrae are fractured, although there is no compression or complications.
Guy said: “We had a game plan to make the most of our good road position and push hard from the start.
"We arrived at an almost flat out left hand corner about seven kilometres into the stage and the pace note was wrong and we left the road at high speed.
“It’s just one of those things and part of rallying. Perhaps if we weren’t pushing so hard we might have got away with it, but that’s a very big might.
"Everything felt so right. The car felt good, Phil was doing a great job on the notes and there was no reason not to push. It was a wrong pace note that ultimately caught us out, and it doesn’t matter how well we were going up until then.
“I’m very annoyed to be lying in a hospital bed and looking at a hospital ceiling, and it’s massively frustrating to be injured and not out there competing.
"It’s a missed opportunity to score a good result and take home points – I know that, and I’m sorry for the team and everyone involved in the programme. But we’ll be back to fight another day.”
Robert Hazelwood, Director of Skoda UK said: “We all know that these things can happen in rallying, especially when you’re pushing hard and trying to win.
"We are pleased that the car withstood such a huge impact so well and that Phil was totally uninjured. Our thoughts are very much with Guy at the moment, and we wish him a quick and full recovery.
"I’d also like to pay tribute to the Rally d'Italia-Sardegna organisers and the medical staff in Oristano, who responded quickly and looked after Guy so well.”
GUY can't wait for the opening stage of Rally d'Italia-Sardegna on Saturday, admitting: It's going to be intense.
The top five IRC drivers have entered the island-based gravel event, round five of the IRC, screened live on Eurosport.
And Guy welcomed the extra opposition he will face this weekend including Sebastien Ogier (Peugeot), Andreas Mikkelsen (Ford Fiesta S2000) and P-G Andersson (Mitsubishi Evo X).
Skoda UK Motorsport driver Guy said: "The opening 28km stage will be very interesting. You have to get out of bed early and go for it on an opening stage like that; you can’t sit back and relax, because you can lose so much
time on such a long stage and spend the rest of the event trying to fight back.
"You can’t afford to do that on a round of the IRC, because the competition is intense.
"I’m quite comfortable with what we’ve achieved in the previous rounds of the IRC.
"We’ve remained in our comfort zone and not really stuck our neck out, but now is the time to start doing
so if we want to win a rally.
"We need to push that little extra bit to start winning rallies and maintain
our challenge in the series.
"We’ve got some bankers in the form of three podiums and we’d like to think that come the time we’re looking at our best seven results to count, our sixth place finish in Monte Carlo will be a dropped score.
"We have three good scores in our back pocket thanks to our podiums in Brazil, Argentina and Gran Canarias, so it’s a great position to build from.
"Rally d'Italia-Sardegna has been a good event for us before in terms of pace, although we’ve also had a bit of bad luck with mechanical problems.
"The event can be quite tough on the car. You have to be very precise where you position the car on the road because there can be some large rocks just off the line.
"The roads really are carved around the landscape and rocks protrude out of the road where you least expect them – and where you don’t want them. So you have to be mindful of that and take caution.
"The stages are very narrow in places, but fast and sometimes quite rough. It’s not a rally where
you can go blasting around carefree and try and set fastest stage time after fastest stage time, because you won’t get away with it.
"You have to use your head to make sure you keep yourself in the game by steering clear of punctures and maintaining car reliability."
Rally d'Italia-Sardegna begins on Friday 4 June with a ceremonial start in Cagliari at 20.00.
Saturday’s opening leg, which features six stages – including two runs over Monte Grighine which, at 17.8 miles (28.66kms), is the longest of the rally – takes the rally north, via service in Simaxis (near Oristano, halfway up the west coast) to the overnight halt in Olbia, in the north-east of the Italian island. It’s a long day, with crews on the move from 06.10 until 21.00.
The second and final day of action takes place on Sunday 6 June, with a further three stages run twice; including the 16.13 mile (25.97km) Coiluna test. A sting in the tail comes in the form of the final three stages, totalling 25.73 miles (41.42kms), which are run without service.
The rally finishes in Porto Cervo, near Olbia, at 19.00, after 12 stages and 135.9 miles (218.7kms) of competition.
Eurosport will broadcast live coverage from the two longest stages of the event, plus a recorded review of the rally, on:
Saturday 5 June
08:30hrs-09:45hrs: LIVE Stage 2: Monte Grighine 1
12:00hrs-13:00hrs: LIVE Stage 4: Monte Grighine 2
Sunday 6 June
08:30hrs-09:45hrs: LIVE Stage 8: Coiluna 1
11:45hrs-12:45hrs: LIVE Stage 10: Coiluna 2
Tuesday 8 June
23:30hrs-24:00hrs: Rally highlights