Škoda to premiere factory team at Monte Carlo
December 19, 2008 by Matt Brogan
The Škoda Fabia Super 2000 is going to have a competition premiere at the upcoming Rally Monte Carlo (21-24 January, 2009) as part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge series (IRC).
The Škoda Motorsport factory team will have two crews in action, Czechs Jan Kopecký with Petr Starý (co-driver) and Juho Hänninen with Mikko Markkula, both from Finland.
“We are proud to be continuing the tradition of over a hundred years of motorsport under the winged-arrow emblem. We want to use the car in selected competitions, primarily in the IRC series, and we strongly believe that the new vehicle is absolutely competitive,” said Škoda Auto BOD Member for Technological Development Dr. Eckhard Scholz, “We and our importers are also going to look for opportunities of using the Fabia Super 2000 on national level in the respective countries and are planning to start selling the vehicle to private teams as well, as well as perform further development work and tests of this race car”.
The Super Fabia weighs in at 1,200kg and features a 2.0-litre all aluminium DOHC 16 valve engine running an X-Trac all wheel drive system with a six speed sequential gearbox and three mechanical differentials.
Explaining the reasons for selecting the said drivers, Head of Škoda Motorsport Michal Hrabánek said, “Although they are still young, both Jan and Juho are very good drivers and have enough experience too. With the new car and the team around, we believe they will continue growing and that we will represent the Škoda brand in rally competitions really successfully”.
We look forward to following the team’s progress through out the year.
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why aren’t they making a team for WRC? 2 teams already withdrawn from that competition and it’s going to be pretty boring with sebastian leon winning all races from start to the end because he has no competition.
Super – another competition testing ground for VAG products – I wonder how much power/torque they are going to run through the DSG and AWD. Should prove how strong it is.
R1 – the story doesn’t mention DSG, but agree about the testing ground comment.
Peter
Actually, it does mention a sequential gearbox, so that is the same as DSG
Correct, Rixtar :)
Actually that is not correct. The gearboxes are a control part in Super 2000 spec rally cars. They are usually supplied by X-Trac and (I think) Sadev. AWD systems are also a control part in S2000.
Good to see Skoda entering the IRC, the more manufacturers the better.
Its got me buggered why Mazda dont enter a 3MPS in this comp as it would be a great rally car. With AWD of course, just like the Focus.
I think that the NA engines should have about 190Kw from what I’ve read.
Interestingly there was talk of the WRC going the way of the Super 2000 formula,to save costs.
Sebastian Leob said that he would not enter the WRC if it changed to the Super 2000 formula.
The WRC is going to use a modified Super 2000 spec from 2010. They will be turbo no NA though, and they will have other changes like in the aero kit.