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Tag: Jan Kopecky

  • ŠKODA at Rally RACC Catalunya-Espana: New WRC 2 champion Kopecký wants to crown season with another win

    ŠKODA at Rally RACC Catalunya-Espana: New WRC 2 champion Kopecký wants to crown season with another win

    WRC 2 leaders Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler (ŠKODA FABIA R5) want to crown a successful season
    with a WRC 2 victory. Photo: Skoda Auto

    Mladá Boleslav, 24 October 2018: ŠKODA’s Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler will enter this weekend’s Rally RACC Catalunya-Rally de España as newly crowned WRC 2 champions. With only two rallies left in the 2018 season, the Czech duo is uncatchable in the WRC 2 overall standings. Also, ŠKODA Motorsport already secured the WRC 2 Championship for Teams.

    ŠKODA junior Kalle Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen (FIN/FIN) compete for the first time in Spain and aim for another top result after their maiden WRC 2 win for ŠKODA at the recent Wales Rally GB.

    ŠKODA Motorsport boss Michal Hrabánek is more than happy with his team’s 2018 season: “We saw a fantastic fight between Pontus Tidemand and Jan Kopecký for the WRC 2 championship. We equally granted six rallies to both drivers. Jan is doing his rally number six in Spain. He can’t be caught by Pontus anymore, because he has already done six events.

    “We are very proud that we could defend both WRC 2 Championship titles for drivers and teams, ŠKODA crews winning 10 out of 11 rounds of the WRC 2 championship 2018 so far. We warmly welcome Volkswagen entering the R5 competition for the first time with the Polo in Spain.”

    For ŠKODA Motorsport, Rally RACC Catalunya-Rally de España marks the end of a successful season. The final round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Rally Australia, never was part of the team’s 2018 program.

    Kalle Rovanperä and co-driver Jonne Halttunen aim for another top result in Spain. Photo: Skoda Auto

    One of the toughest rivals for Kopecký will be Rovanperä who recently won the WRC 2 category at Wales Rally GB right after his 18th birthday. “The victory in Wales was great. Hopefully, we can keep this momentum into the Spanish WRC round to finish the season on a high,” said the young Finn.

    Nevertheless, Kopecký also looks forward to Spain’s championship round with optimism. “I have a really fantastic season so far and could win every rally I was competing in, in total five WRC 2 events and six rallies of the Czech Rally Championship. Last year, I missed the victory in Spain. After all the championship pressure is gone now, I will try my best to settle that bill,” emphasized the Czech champion

    As 12th round of the FIA World Rally Championship, Rally RACC Catalunya-Rally de España offers a special challenge for the 21 WRC 2 crews, among them nine competing in a ŠKODA FABIA R5. The Spanish WRC round is the championship’s only mixed surface rally.

    The first leg on Friday is held on gravel roads with some tarmac sections. On Saturday and Sunday, all stages are entirely run on asphalt. In total, the teams have to face 18 special stages over 331.58 Kms. The winner will reach the podium at the rally’s host town Salou in the south of Catalunya’s capital Barcelona on Sunday.

    A few interesting facts about Rally Catalunya-Espana

    • The WRC event in Spain/Catalunya is the only one which features a mix of gravel stages during leg one and asphalt stages during legs two and three.
    • On Friday evening the service time is 1:15 hours and thus 30 minutes longer than usual, allowing the teams to convert the cars from gravel into tarmac spec.
    • The spectacular Barcelona street stage is back as opener of Rally RACC Catalunya-Rally de España on Thursday evening.
    • Rally RACC Catalunya-Rally de España was first run in 1957, became a round of the European Rally Championship (ERC) in 1975 and in 1991 for the first time was part of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC)
    • At Rally RACC Catalunya-Rally de España the cars in WRC 2 category are allowed to use a maximum of 10 gravel tyres and 24 asphalt tyres plus an extra of four tyres for shakedown?
    • World Theme Park, featuring the spectacular Dragon Khan roller coaster with eight loops and a top speed of more than 110 kph
  • Neuville snatches dramatic win over Ogier to extend WRC title lead

    Neuville snatches dramatic win over Ogier to extend WRC title lead

    Thierry Neuville reacts after scoring a sensational win over Sebastien Ogier in the Rally Italia Sardegna. Photo: WRC

    Alghero, 10 June 2018: Thierry Neuville snatched a thrilling Rally Italia Sardegna victory on Sunday afternoon after edging WRC title rival Sebastien Ogier in an electrifying shootout in the final speed test. He trailed Ogier by 0.8sec ahead of the 6.96 kms test, but delivered a daredevil drive in his Hyundai i20 to overhaul the Frenchman and claim his third win of the season by 0.7sec. Neuville extended his championship lead over Ogier to 27 points.

    Esapekka Lappi finished third in a Toyota Yaris, a further 1min 51.3sec behind. The results remain provisional after a bizarre incident at the finish of the penultimate stage when Ogier hurriedly departed in his Ford Fiesta without collecting his time card. It was later delivered to him by Ott Tänak. It was a breach of regulations which prohibit the crew receiving items from a third party.

    After investigating the issue, stewards removed the 22 points Ogier and Ingrassia gained from the rally and the 18 earned by their M-Sport Ford team. The penalty was suspended, meaning it will only be applied if the pair repeat the offence before the end of the season. They were also fined 10,000 Euros. The decision means Ogier remains 27 points adrift of Neuville with six rounds remaining.

    Ingrassia admitted his mistake at the hearing. He said they left the stage finish without checking the time card had been returned by marshals and when he realised the error, it was too late to return to the finish line by car or on foot. Stewards accepted it was a genuine mistake which had no effect on the performance of their Ford Fiesta.

    Neuville won the final live TV Power Stage to claim five bonus points. Ogier took four points for second with Ott Tänak scoring three in third in a Yaris. Andreas Mikkelsen and Elfyn Evans took two and one point respectively.

    It was the third smallest winning margin in the WRC’s 45-year history, matching Neuville’s dramatic success in Argentina last year when he performed a similar snatch and grab on Elfyn Evans.

    The Belgian started the sun-kissed short final leg along Sardinia’s north-west coast 3.9sec adrift of Ogier. He won the opening three tests before both drivers threw caution to the wind in the finale. Both made mistakes on the dusty, rocky tracks but Neuville emerged on top.

    “I gave it everything, it was a really great fight and such a small difference at the end,” he said. “We needed to make a decision at the start of the last stage and our decision was to go for the win. We believed strongly and pushed hard.”

    Ogier was far from downhearted. “We lost one battle but definitely not the war. It’s not the time to panic. I tried everything I could today but I was always losing a few tenths here and there,” he said.

    Kopecky takes third WRC 2 win of the season

    Jan Kopecky on a high after enjoying a comfortable win in WRC 2, his third of the season. Photo: WRC

    A clean run through the final day of the rally enabled Jan Kopecky to seal his third WRC 2 win of the year by more than three minutes. After Stéphane Lefebvre’s retirement on Saturday, the Skoda Motorsport driver knew all he had to do was clear Sunday’s four stages cleanly to claim victory, and that is exactly what he did. He kept his Fabia R5 out of trouble on the rocky and rutted roads to win by 3m 02.6sec.

    Twenty-five points for victory keeps Kopecky second in the drivers’ standings, behind team-mate Pontus Tidemand. But with the Swede not participating in Italy, the gap between them slims to 18 points.

    “The feeling is really nice because the Czech fans are everywhere here,” Kopecký explained. “The rally didn’t start completely perfect, but we’ve been fast the rest of the weekend and there were no mistakes.”

    Ole Christian Veiby…..brilliant run. Photo: WRC

    Ole Christian Veiby secured runner-up spot in the second Skoda Motorsport Fabia R5. The Norwegian claimed a hat-trick of stage wins to add to his six from Saturday as he overhauled Hyundai i20 driver Nicolas Ciamin on the rally’s penultimate stage.

    Ciamin claimed the final podium spot, deciding to focus on bringing the car home in one piece as the gravel tracks got rougher on the second run and rocks were pulled onto the racing line.

    Pierre-Louis Loubet was one of the drivers caught out by the rough conditions in his i20 R5, he lost more than two minutes on the second run of the 14.06km Cala Flumini stage. That dropped him from fourth to sixth as Fabio Andolfi and Lukasz Pieniazek both squeezed their Skodas into the top five, despite a stall for the latter on the same stage.

    Loubet’s woes were compounded when he was forced to retire at final control. That promoted Benito Guerra to sixth after his retirement yesterday. Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Lefebvre rounded out the finishers – the Frenchman showing strong pace in his Citroën C3 R5 by claiming fastest WRC 2 time in the Sassari-Argentiera Live TV Power Stage.

    Toyota development driver Takamoto Katsuta retired on SS17 with a broken driveshaft in his Ford Fiesta R5, while Simone Tempestini was unable to restart after mechanical issues with his Citroën on Saturday.