ŠKODA MOTORSPORT NEWSLETTER • August 2020 ŠKODA MOTORSPORT CUSTOMERS HITTING THE STAGES AGAIN By Michal Hrabánek, Director of ŠKODA Motorsport Despite COVID-19 is still ERC1 Junior category. Our factory driv- Enjoy this new edition of our newslet- an ongoing topic, the in- er Jan Kopecký and privateer Filip Mareš ter. We will keep you updated about the D ternational motorsports are well positioned in the Czech Rally results and progress of our customers and rallying is gearing up. Championship. And finally, in Septem- in international and national series. The calendar of the FIA World Rally ber, the WRC comes out of a six months Championship (WRC) had to be reshuf- corona break with Rally Estonia. Our fled – again. Wherever our sport is WRC2 Champion of 2017, Pontus Tide- somehow back, ŠKODA Motorsport mand, will facing the challenge in Esto- customers roll their FABIA Rally2 or nia with his private entered ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo out of the workshop FABIA Rally2 evo, run by Team Toksport and hit the stages. Two rounds of the WRT. I wish him and all of ten ŠKODA FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) privateers, making our brand again the are already behind us, with ŠKODA pri- strongest one among the 31 entries in vateers making up the majority of the the RC2 class all the best and good luck! CONTENT: 1 Editorial by Michal Hrabánek Review ERC rounds Rally di 2 Roma Capitale and Rally Liepāja Standings category ERC1 Junior WRC resumes with Rally Estonia WRC calendar, remaining rallies 3 KOWAX Rally ValMez, Czech Rally Championship Other recent rally results 4 Facts about the ŠKODA FABIA Albert von Thurn und Taxis/ Rally2 and ŠKODA FABIA Bernhard Ettel (DEU/AUT) Rally2 evo at the start of Rally di Roma History – 10 years ago: Triple Capitale with their ŠKODA ŠKODA podium at Barum Rally FABIA Rally2 evo 5 Zlín • NEWS RALLY DI ROMA CAPITALE The season opener of the FIA European Champi- Filip Mareš/ T onship (ECR) was the first international rally after Radovan the corona break. Hence, the hygiene protocol was Bucha (CZE/ as much of interest as the sporting aspect. Drivers had to CZE), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 wear face masks whenever out of the car, mechanics all the evo time. The service park was off-limits to fans, who had to reg- ister online for designated spectator areas stage-side. The event in the vicinity of the Italian capital went surprisingly smooth with 2018 ERC champion Alex Lukyanuk winning overall. Romanian Simone Tempestini in fifth was highest Simone Tempestini/ placed driver of a ŠKODA FABIA Rally2. Sergio Itu (ROM/ ROM), ŠKODA In ERC1 Junior category, four of eight competitors fielded FABIA Rally2 the Czech rally car. Emil Lindholm from Finland took the role to fight with World Champion son Oliver Solberg (VW) from Norway and Luxembourger Grégoire Munster (Hyundai). After 15 stages covering 198 kilometres, Solberg won the category from Lindholm and Munster. Third ŠKODA driver inside the top 10 overall next to Tempestini and Lindholm was Filip Mareš from Czech Republic. Emil Lindholm/Mikael Korhonen (FIN/FIN), RALLY LIEPĀJA ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo From the Italian tarmac the ERC travelled to the Latvian gravel. Oliver Solberg repeated his overall F victory from 2019. Best ŠKODA driver home was Finland’s Eerik Pietarinen in fourth overall. Ten competitors eligible for ERC1 Junior – less than 28 years old, Rally2 car – took the start. Five of them trusted the ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 in original or evo version. While overall victor Solberg automatically won this category as well, sec- ond went to ŠKODA privateer Emil Lindholm. The young Finn this time beat Grégoire Munster, closing the gap to the from Poland drove his ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo to sixth in Luxembourger in the overall standings to one single point. The ERC1 Junior. In addition to Pietarinen and Lindholm another difference is a result of the ERC scoring system, which awards Finn, Mikko Heikkilä, completed a ŠKODA trio inside the top points for each leg as well as for the overall result. Miko Marczyk 10 overall. Eerik Pietarinen/ STANDINGS FIA EUROPEAN Antti Linnaketo (FIN/FIN), RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP, ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 ERC1 JUNIOR (after 2 of 6 rounds) WRC 2 1. Oliver Solberg (SWE) VW 80 points 2. Grégoire Munster (LUX) Hyundai 49 points 3. Emil Lindholm (FIN) ŠKODA 48 points 4. Efrén Llarena (ESP) Citroën 48 points 5. Miko Marczyk (POL) ŠKODA 34 points 6. Simone Tempestini (ROM) ŠKODA 30 points • NEWS WRC RESUMES WITH RALLY ESTONIIA After a corona break of nearly six months, the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) re-starts begin- A ning of September in Estonia. It’s a WRC first for the Baltic country. Although the ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, 16,000 registered spectators will be allowed to watch the smooth and fast gravel stages. Host town is Tartu. The itiner- ary is cut down by a third to 232 kilometres, 60 crews were allowed to enter. Amongst them are 31 cars of the RC2 class, including ten ŠKODA FABIA. In one of them: Pontus Tidemand, WRC2 Champion in 2017 with ŠKODA Motorsport. The Swede, cur- rently third overall in the WRC2 standings, competes in Esto- Pontus Tidemand/Patrik Barth (SWE/SWE), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, Rally Mexico nia with a ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo of team Toksport WRT. The German outfit has entered a similar car for Norwegian FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) remaining rounds Eyvind Brynildsen. Finnish youngsters Emil Lindholm, current- 4 – 6 September Rally Estonia ly third in the FIA European Rally Championship’s ERC1 Junior 18 – 20 September Rally Turkey category, and Eerik Pietarinen also field ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo as well as three times FIA European Rally Champion Ka- 8 – 11 October Rally Italia Sardegna jetan Kajetanowicz from Poland. 19 – 22 November Renties Ypres Rally Belgium KOWAX RALLY VALMEZ, CZECH RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP For ŠKODA factory driver Jan Kopecký, being fastest on seven out of 15 stages – one ex-aequo F with the eventual winner – was not enough to take victory at the Czech Championship’s second round. In the end, Kopecký and co-driver Jan Hloušek, as usual sharing a ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, lost out with 5.3 sec- onds to Václav Pech/Petr Uhel in a World Rally Car spec Ford Focus. In scorching summer heat on the tarmac stages around Kopřivnice, Kopecký and Pech traded times in tenths of a second range. Pech reached the finish of the first leg with a lead of just 2.9 seconds. Due to the high average speed of the second leg’s stages – sometimes reaching 135 km/h –, Kopecký had no chance to hunt down the WRC car. Filip Mareš/Radovan Bucha of the newly founded Laureta Auto ŠKODA Team brought an- other ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo onto the podium. Five more ŠKODA crews finished inside the top ten, demon- strating the dominance of the Czech car in this champion- ship. With two rounds to go, defending champion Ko- Jan Kopecký/Jan Hloušek (CZE/CZE), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 pecký now holds second in the overall classification, stable evo at Rally Bohemia. mate Mareš is third. • NEWS OTHER RECENT RALLY RESULTS: Bulgaria: Miroslav Angelov/Georgi Gadzhev Mauritius: Rajesh Ramdenee/Richey Beeness- (BUL/ BUL), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, won the reesingh (MUS/MUS), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2, season opening Rally Tvarditsa in their home country. from the Indian Ocean island were fastest over Rally Eiffel’s 32 kms only – albeit divided into seven stages. Bolivia: Locals Roberto Saba/Humberto Roca (BOL/BOL), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2, finished on Portugal: Miguel Nunes/João Paulo (PRT/PRT), top of only 15 crews reaching the finish of Rally El Torno. ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo, from Portugal took the victory at the Rali Vinho Da Madeira. Lithunia: Vaidotas Žala and co-driver Andris Mālnieks (LTU/LVA), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2, Romania: All ŠKODA podium at Rally Sibiului won the Lithuanian Championship category of Rally with local crew Simone Tempestini/Sergiu Itu Samsonas Rokiškis. (ROM/ROM), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2, on top. Latvia: ERC qualifier Rally Liepāja also counted Russia: Vasiliy Gryazin/Yaroslav Fedorov (RUS/ towards the Latvian Championship. Category RUS), ŠKODA FABIA Rally2, won the first round winners were Raul Jeets/Andrus Toom (EST/EST), of their home championship after the corona break. ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo. FACTS ABOUT ŠKODA FABIA RALLY2 AND ŠKODA FABIA RALLY2 EVO • HISTORY Freddy Loix/ Frédéric Miclotte (BEL/BEL), ŠKODA FABIA S2000 10 YEARS AGO In August 2010, Barum Rally Zlín was part of the Interconti- I nental Rally Challenge (IRC), FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) and Czech Rally Championship (MČR). The podium was a ŠKODA lockout with FABIA S2000 teams taking top three. Victory went to Belgian crew Freddy Loix/Frédéric Miclotte, ahead of Juho Hänninen/Irkku Markkula (FIN/FIN) and Juho Hänninen/Mikko Markkula (FIN/FIN) finished second with their Pavel Valoušek/Zdeněk Hrůza (CZE/CZE). ŠKODA FABIA S2000 ŠKODA MOTORSPORT: Further information: Zbyněk Straškraba, Communications Motorsport P +420 605 293 168 [email protected] http://skoda-motorsport.com.