A whole host of championship trophies and sustained applause from the motorsport elite assembled in Paris: the annual motorsport gala held by the International Automobile Federation FIA was the perfect end to a successful rally season for ŠKODA.
“In the fifth year since we launched our ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000, our drivers have once again proven emphatically that the Fabia is still one of the best rally cars in the world in the S2000 class,” said ŠKODA Motorsport Director Michal Hrabánek. “The successful title defences in the ERC and APRC, and the victory in the South American championship, are just the most prominent examples. The numerous successes achieved by our privateers on national stages around the world are equally satisfying.”
With a host of titles and victories to its name, 2013 will go down as one of the most successful years in the iconic manufacturer’s 112-year motorsport history. ŠKODA picked up the trophy for winning the Manufacturers’ Championship in the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) in Paris, as well as a further six international trophies for Driver and Co-Driver titles in rally championships in Europe, South America and the Asia-Pacific region. ŠKODA works pairing Jan Kopecký/Pavel Dresler (CZ/CZ) won the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) in a Fabia Super 2000, while Gaurav Gill/Glenn Macneall (IND/NZ) triumphed in the Driver and Co-Driver Championship in the APRC.
Gustavo Saba/Victor Aguilera (PY/PY) came out on top in the 2013 FIA Codasur South American Rally Championship and also won the championship in their native Paraguay – both in a Fabia Super 2000. ŠKODA drivers also secured a further five national titles in Austria (Raimund Baumschlager), Italy (Umberto Scandola), Bulgaria (Dimitar Iliev), Jordan (Marouf Abu Samra) and Portugal (Ricardo Moura). Another highlight of the extraordinarily successful season was victory in the WRC-2 class at the Rally Monte Carlo, courtesy of the ŠKODA AUTO Germany pairing of Sepp Wiegand/Frank Christian (D/D).
Of all the victories, ŠKODA’s triumph in the APRC really stood out. Gaurav Gill claimed the title to celebrate what he described as “the biggest win of my career”. The 32-year-old Indian has lined up in the APRC for the ŠKODA MRF team since 2012. “I am APRC champion and overjoyed. I achieved the goal set by myself and the entire brand. That is fantastic. I would like to thank everyone at the ŠKODA MRF team and ŠKODA Motorsport in particular, who helped make my dream come true.”
For ŠKODA works driver Jan Kopecký, the European Championship title is the pinnacle of a success story that started back in 2008 with his first test drives in the Fabia Super 2000. The two-time Czech Rally Champion finished runner-up in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) four years in a row between 2009 and 2012. The 31-year-old was in dominant form in 2013, winning six rallies and claiming a further two podiums in the ERC.
“In a way, the Fabia Super 2000 is my ‘baby’. After all, I was involved in its development right from the word go,” said Kopecký. The extraordinary success enjoyed at hundreds of rallies around the globe in 2013 showed just what a prime example of ŠKODA engineering the 270-hp four wheel-drive powerhouse is. Kopecký: “I feel rather proud when I see this car winning events and titles all over the world again this year. I am now looking forward to the start of an exciting new project.”
In 2014, ŠKODA will once again line up in the ERC and the APRC with its works drivers and the Fabia Super 2000. There will also be a successor to the successful ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 motorsport project when development begins on the ŠKODA Fabia R 5 in Mladá Boleslav next year. In line with FIA regulations, the new R 5 rally car will be equipped with a 1.6-litre turbo engine. “Entering the R 5 class is a logical step for ŠKODA. As it stands, we are assuming that the new car will be homologated by mid-2015,” said Hrabánek.