Mills started co-driving at the most basic level of the sport in 1983, when he began competing on British road rallies with a local motor club. His skills developed quickly and in 1984 he clinched his first class title on the Welsh Road Rally Championship

For the rest of the 1980's Phil was a regular co-driver at club level, using the time to build his experience on a variety of different stage conditions. In the period between 1988 and 1990 he somehow managed to squeeze in 88 rallies!

After such a thorough apprenticeship, his big break at an international level came in 1990 when co-driving for Graham Middleton. The pair won the Group N production car category and finished third overall on the Welsh round of the British Championship.

Mills won the Welsh National Championship in 1992 and 1993 with Brian Bell, and in 1993 joined Malcolm Wilson Motorsport to put his organisational skills to good use as team co-ordinator on the RAC Rally. Mills carried out gravel noting for Malcolm Wilson when he won the British Championship in 1994 and was also busy partnering Lindholm in the British Championship and scoring his first international success alongside Mohammed Bin Sulayem in the Rally of Jordan.

Mills' reputation as a co-driver reached new heights in 1996 when he linked up with Mark Higgins at Nissan, finishing second in the British Championship and a superb fourth on the RAC Rally.

The pairing went on to win the British Championship in 1997, and Mills, still finding time to carry out his co-ordination duties for M-Sport on the world and Middle East championships, also found time to co-drive for Ford driver Armin Schwarz in the Tour de Corse.

Phil competed in five further world championship events with Higgins during 1998, gaining more WRC experience, which was put to good use when he joined young Norwegian star Petter Solberg at Ford in 1999. Mills' wealth of expertise proved a huge boost to the promising Norwegian driver, and in their first year together they achieved an excellent fifth place in Kenya, an 11th place in Portugal and a ninth in the Rally of Great Britain.

For the first half of the 2000 season Phil and Petter stayed at Ford, securing a fifth place in Kenya, a sixth in Argentina and a career best fourth place in New Zealand.

However, in what was seen by many as the most significant transfer of the year, the pair joined the Subaru World Rally Team in August 2000 to maximise their World Championship potential. For the rest of this season Phil and Petter gained experience of the Impreza WRC2000, and took part in several events before embarking on a full season with the team in 2001.

1993 Winner - Welsh National Championship

1992 Winner - Welsh National Championship