Wilks plans for busy Canarias shakedown

Guy Wilks is determined to make the most of shakedown for Rally Islas Canarias after being forced to miss the pre-event test in Gran Canaria on Monday.

Wilks, currently second in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge drivers’ standings, was prevented from taking part in the test following delays retrieving vital components from the port in Las Palmas.

He plans to use 2.3-kilometre shakedown stage, which goes live at 10:00hrs local time today (Thursday), to adapt his Škoda UK Motorsport-run Fabia Super 2000 to the island’s high-grip asphalt in preparation for the fourth round of the IRC.

“There’s so much grip here that it’s going to be difficult to get used to it,” said the Briton. “Shakedown will give us an opportunity to feel what the car is doing in terms of the grip levels but we’ll only have about 13 kilometres of running when most of the other guys got about 70 kilometres on Monday. It won’t be easy but we’ll do our best to hit the ground running.”