ŠKODA MOTORSPORT Newsletter 4
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ŠKODA MOTORSPORT NEWSLETTER • 4th issue 2021 NEXT STAGE OF SUCCESS by Michal Hrabánek, Head of ŠKODA Motorsport nce again, we at ŠKODA wards the FIA European Rally Cham- CONTENT: Motorsport are working pionship (ERC) and the Czech Rally Editorial by Michal Hrabánek, 1 O on the future. With the Championship (MČR). We will see Head of ŠKODA Motorsport ŠKODA FABIA road car Andreas Mikkelsen of ŠKODA Motor- Technical: switching to generation four, the rally sport supported team Toksport WRT Electromobility in motorsport, by version follows suit. Our multiple in action as well as the front-runners 2 ŠKODA Motorsport Team Manager Pavel Hortek championship winning car will enter of our national series, including the next stage of success. The devel- ŠKODA Motorsport test driver Jan Podium for ŠKODA RE-X1 Kreisel opment phase of the next generation Kopecký. With a high number of Review: rally version of the ŠKODA FABIA is ŠKODA crews at the start, we send 3 Renties Ypres Rally Belgium (WRC) already in full swing. With different our spare parts service to Zlín as reli- Rally Roma di Capitale (ERC) drivers, we have completed test ses- able support for our customer crews. Preview: 4 sions on tarmac and gravel in the A completely different approach to the Barum Czech Rally Zlín (ERC/MČR) Czech Republic, France and Spain future of rallying are battery-powered Interview: (video). Our test crew will be busy in cars. In this Newsletter, ŠKODA 5 János Puskádi, the next weeks as well. Motorsport Team Manager Pavel owner EUROSOL Racing Team Meanwhile, the current generation Hortek gives a summary of the current Facts about ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 6 ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo is still col- situation in motorsport in general. and ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo lecting trophies every weekend, as Whatever the future will bring, we 7 Other recent Rally Results you can see in the results overview in prepare ourselves in this sector as well. History: 8 this Newsletter. The next big event is For now, enjoy reading our latest ŠKODA at Acropolis Rally Barum Czech Rally Zlín, counting to- Newsletter. ŠKODA Motorsport has started testing the next generation Rally2 version of the ŠKODA FABIA • TECHNICAL ELECTROMOBILITY IN MOTORSPORT by Pavel Hortek, ŠKODA Motorsport Team Manager he revolution in modern the strongest group of vehicles, Rally1 transport systems is one of (formerly WRC), from 2022 onwards, T the most important ongoing hand in hand with the use of sustainable social changes today. Urbanization, fuel, which will be mandatory for all rally global environmental impacts and groups in the Word Rally Championship government regulations are accelerat- from next year on as well. ing demand for hybrid vehicles and In the meantime, starting last year, electric cars. Vehicle electrification is some electric cars have appeared on therefore the driving force behind the the tracks of national rally champion- ongoing revolution in the automotive ships, first the Opel Corsa-e Rally and industry. The ability to quickly and this year also the ŠKODA RE-X1 Krei- profitably design electric cars, that are sel, which was developed by the Aus- of interest to customers, is a huge trian company Kreisel Electric in co- challenge. operation with ŠKODA Motorsport. While in the past some technical Pavel Hortek, ŠKODA Motorsport Team Although the further penetration of solutions in race cars were often Manager electric cars into rally championships a harbinger of series production, will not take place immediately, the t oday – it seems – this is not the case 2014 and in other forms of circuit development cannot be stopped and any longer. based motorsport including rallycross, further changes to the rules can be While battery electric motorsport is this is not the case in rallying. There- expected from the FIA from 2025 at already customary in Formula E since fore, the FIA opted for hybridization of the latest. BATTERY-POWERED PODIUM trong competition debut for grams, the fully electric rally car is only this weight difference. “If necessary, the fully electric ŠKODA 100 kg heavier than its internal com- the Austrian Motorsport Federation S RE-X1 Kreisel. With multiple bustion engine brother. “We are defi- can easily give the car more or less national champion Raimund Baum- nitely working to get the car lighter,” power,” Daniel Foissner explains, the schlager at the wheel, the ŠKODA Baumschlager promised. For the mo- project leader at Kreisel Electric. The FABIA Rally2 evo based prototype ment, a power advantage of roughly ŠKODA RE-X1 Kreisel’s drive train is finished Austrian Championship 56 kW compared to the standard ready for this – in rallycross spec, the round Rallye Weiz third overall. “We ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo equalizes car delivers close to 515 kW. didn’t have a single technical prob- lem,” Baumschlager said. He im- proved a couple of positions during leg two of the tarmac event, when rain made conditions really tricky. Victory went to Simon Wagner in a conventionally driven ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo Edition 120. The 52.6 kWh battery gives the ŠKODA RE-X1 Kreisel a range of roughly 35 stage kilometers plus a bit more of liaison. Although the power pack weighs in at 330 kilo- Raimund Baumschlager gave the electric ŠKODA RE-X1 Kreisel its competition debut • REVIEW Pieter Cracco/Jasper Vermeulen drive the Team BMA SKODA FABIA Rally evo through famous “Eau Rouge” on Spa-Francor- champ’s F1 track WRC: LOCALS FLY THE ŠKODA FLAG ompetitors of the FIA World lied on the FABIA Rally2 model. With during the final leg relegated them to Rally Championship (WRC) the only international crew, Pepe fourth at the finish. Honours of top C categories WRC2 and WRC3 López/Borja Odriozola of Rally Team ŠKODA crew at the first ever Belgian can bring only a limited number of re- Spain, out after a crash during the pre- WRC round went to Pieter Cracco/ sults into their overall score. One event event test, the ŠKODA flag was flown Jasper Vermeulen. The Bernard Mun- skipped by all the WRC2 top-runners by local teams. ster Autosport (BMA) crew climbed was Renties Ypres Rally Belgium. Thus, From the word “GO”, Sébastien Be- onto the podium as second in WRC3. Andreas Mikkelsen still leads the driv- doret and co-driver François Gilbert in Ghislain de Mevius/Johan Jalet (BMA) ers’ standings as well as ŠKODA Team SXM’s ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 in seventh and Cédric de Cecco/ Motorsport supported Toksport WRT evo fought with WRC3 overall leader Jérôme Humblet (Metior Sport) in the teams’ standings. Yohan Rossel for top spot. The Bel- eighth also made it into the top 10 of In WRC3, eight out of 17 entries for the gians were in front by 0.9 seconds af- WRC3, underlining the strong perfor- ŠKODA Belgium supported event re- ter day two. But a transmission issue mance of Belgian ŠKODA crews. ERC: BASSO CONQUERS ROME wo Italians battled it out during Rally Roma di On their first asphalt rally since nearly three months, Andreas Capitale, third round of the FIA European Rally Mikkelsen and co-driver Ola Fløene never really got to grips T Championship (ERC). As the second leg started, with their Toksport WRT run ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo. Giandomenico Basso (ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo) was trail- “I don’t think I had the aggressivity and the speed in the cor- ing Hyundai driver Andrea Crugnola by 5.4 seconds. Basso ners which you need to have on tarmac,” the Norwegian ad- increased the pressure by winning the day’s first test. One mitted. At least, eighth position was enough to close the gap stage later, he took the lead, when Crugnola caught a punc- to ERC overall leader Alexey Lukyanuk to one single point. ture. In the end, Basso and co-driver Lorenzo Granai cele- brated their second victory in Rome. Their winning margin: 35.8 seconds. Which was more than hundred times the difference be- tween positions three and four. Only during the very last stage, Hungary’s Norbert Herczig/Ramón Ferencz (ŠKODA Rally Team Hungaria) overtook Rally Team Spain’s Efrén Llarena/Sara Fernándes, who shared a Toksport WRT run ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo. The crews were separated by After 2019, Giandomenico Basso/Lorenzo Granai of ŠKODA 0.3 seconds only! customer team Delta Rally again won their home event • PREVIEW At Barum Czech Rally Zlín, Andreas Mikkelsen of ŠKODA Motorsport supported team Toksport WRT is joined by new co-driver Jonas Andersson ERC + MČR: CZECH DOUBLE-HEADER wo sets of trophies are up for grabs at Barum (ACA ŠKODA Vančík Motorsport), a 21 years young ex-karter. Czech Rally Zlín (27 – 29 August 2021). For its 50th Of the 37 Rally2 entries, 24 crews rely on the rally car from T edition the tradition-rich event again not only Mladá Boleslav. counts to the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC), but With 20 victories to its name, ŠKODA is the most successful as well to the country’s national championship MČR. 211 brand at the Zlín based event. Already at the premiere in 1971 stage kilometres of mostly very bumpy, broken tarmac await a ŠKODA 1100 MB came first. Six wins of the ŠKODA the competitors in both series. One highlight is the nightly 130 RS in the hands of drivers like Václav Blahna, John Haug- Super Special Stage through the streets of Zlín, a city with land and Jiří Šedivý followed in the 1970s and ’80s, before roughly 75,000 inhabitants to the Southeast of the Czech Roman Kresta and the ŠKODA OCTAVIA WRC took over at Republic. the turn of the century. Jan Kopecký celebrated his first As all points are multiplied by the coefficient 1.5, Czech Rally Zlín victory at the wheel of a ŠKODA FABIA WRC in 2004.