12:01pm Thursday 18th March 2010
By Matt Westcott
GUY Wilks is hoping history repeats itself when he tackles Rally Argentina tomorrow.
The rally begins on Friday and incorporates 15 stages and 150 miles, ending on Sunday afternoon.
Darlingtons Wilks, and co-driver Phil Pugh, won the FIA Junior World Rally Championship category in the country in 2006.
Now Wilks is looking for more success as he seeks to improve on his second place in the International Rally Challenge table.
The Skoda UK Motorsport driver finished second in Brazil a fortnight ago and is in touching distance of the overall lead going into this, the third round.
Wilks said: "I can remember the stages quite well, but the conditions might have changed a lot.
"So we're going to go to an old stage that's not being used this year to check our pacenotes and see exactly what the situation is.
"In any case, the Skoda Fabia S2000 is an awful lot quicker than the J-WRC car we drove in 2006. The speeds will be higher, the jumps higher and the watersplashes more hazardous, so in preparing for the event we have to take all of this into consideration.
"We have to try and win Rally Argentina. It's never easy to win a rally, and that will be the case in Argentina because there will be a lot more high-quality opposition.
"All our main IRC rivals are there and the local star drivers will be fast, but it's certainly our aim to win."
Wilks has remained in South America since Brazil and believes this has helped him acclimatise.
"We had a two-rally game plan coming to South America, and part of it was to stay here between events to train in the heat," he said.
"It's a lot of work and a long time away from home, but to return to Britain with a first and a second place finish would be absolutely fantastic.
"We set ourselves very high standard and there is a lot Skoda UK Motorsport wants to achieve this year.
"Second in Brazil was a good result, but we really want to win one of these South American rounds, and doing that in Argentina would be very special."
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