Wilks Takes Skoda To Canaries Rally

Škoda UK Motorsport driver, Guy Wilks, is aiming to fly high at Round IV of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, Rally Islas Canarias 'Trofeo El Corte Ingles', 28 April-1 May.

Guy was testing his Fabia S2000 in the mountains above Sanremo when British air space shut down last week.

Quick thinking, a car journey from Italy to France, an internal Air France flight to Orly, three trains and a lot of running between ticket desks got Guy home.

Contingency plans have been put in place to get Guy and co-driver Phil Pugh to Gran Canarias by land and sea, but it looks like they'll be able to fly directly from the UK as originally planned.

The Spanish island of Gran Canarias is located in the Atlantic Ocean about 93 miles (150kms) off the north-western coast of Africa and about 838 miles (1350kms) from Europe.

Average daytime temperatures at this time of year are around 21°C (70°F), so Guy is expecting this to be his first dry asphalt rally in the Fabia S2000.

He has also never contested the event before, so a good recce and a perfect car set-up will be essential if Guy is to score a hat-trick of consecutive IRC podium finishes, as the event promises to be extremely fast and furious.

Guy arrives in Gran Canarias lying 2nd in the IRC drivers' table. His aim is clear – try to score as many points as possible and maintain his title challenge, whilst doing all he can to help Škoda strengthen its lead in the manufacturers’ standings.

In addition to the Škoda UK Motorsport entry, there will be three more Fabia S2000s, driven by Škoda Motorsport pilots Juho Hänninen and Jan Kopecký and Spanish asphalt expert Alberto Hevia.

Kris Meeke, Bruno Magalhães, Franz Wittmann, Thierry Neuville and Daniel Oliveira, together with local drivers David Perez and Jonathan Perez,will all drive Peugeot 207 S2000s, while two M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000s will be driven by Alvaro Muniz and Sergio Vallejo.

(BMcC/GK)