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Canarias countdown: Wilks aims for top spot

"I think it’s realistic to think of winning Spain"

By

4 March 2011 - 18:02

The countdown to Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés continues with 40 days to go until the Intercontinental Rally Challenge fires back into life on the taxing asphalt roads of Gran Canaria.

Guy Wilks, who finished third on the event last season – the IRC’s first visit to the Atlantic island – has high hopes for another strong result in his Peugeot UK 207 Super 2000 with victory a realistic aim for the 30-year-old Briton.

“I think it’s realistic to think of winning Spain,” said Wilks, who switched to Peugeot UK for the 2011 season. “We were competitive there last year in a car which wasn’t as competitive as the others in the specification we had. The Peugeots were undoubtedly fast on Tarmac last year as they were on the dry stages in Monte this year.”

He continued: “There is no reason why we can’t win on Tarmac at all this year. We’ve got a lot more to come from the car, there are plenty of little things we can change, things like differential and damper specifications. We ran pretty safe on Rallye Monte-Carlo [and finished third] and we know we can make more time on the others. We believe in ourselves and we believe in the car.”

Rally Islas Canarias forms round two of the 2011 IRC season. The event takes place from 14-16 April.