Successful pre-Curitiba test for Wilks

Škoda UK Motorsport driver Guy Wilks prepared for Rally Internacional de Curitiba in Brazil next week with a two-day test on the island of Sardinia last weekend.

Wilks covered 180 kilometres in a Fabia S2000, which marked the time he had driven the car on gravel since winning the RAC MSA Rally of Scotland three months ago.

“The team did really well to find a four-kilometre section of road in Europe that was very fast, flat and full of crests – just like we’re going to face in Brazil,” said Wilks, 29.

“We were lucky that it stayed dry, although on Saturday it was just eight degrees Centigrade with a 45kph wind and on Sunday it was 14 degrees Centigrade. It’s going to be significantly hotter in Brazil next week, so at the rally shakedown we’ll concentrate on fine-tuning the set-up for the higher temperatures."

“It was a good test,” confirmed Škoda UK Motorsport team manager Pierfrancesco Zanchi. “We worked on a lot of different solutions, including set-up and rear differential pre-load. Guy drove the car all day on Saturday and Sunday morning, and we were happy with what we achieved.”