Four Skoda crews in the hunt for title glory

The final event of this year’s Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) to take place in Cyprus over the upcoming weekend promises a thrilling spectacle.

Three weeks after repeating its victory in the Manufacturers Cup from last year, ŠKODA is about to field four drivers of Fabia Super 2000s with chances to win the title in the Drivers category.

ŠKODA Motorsport (factory team) will use both its crews – the current IRC leader Jan Kopecký and the current IRC runner-up and fresh SWRC Champion Juho Hänninen. The other two Fabia Super 2000 drivers with the ambitions to win the title are Andreas Mikkelsen who won the previous rally in Scotland and Freddy Loix.

The programme includes 11 stages (187 competition kilometres) of which a half will be done on tarmac and the other half on gravel. Offering twice as many points as usual, the Cyprus Rally is the first event of this year’s calendar in which the cars will do the combination of both surfaces with one type of setting.

The new IRC Champion will be known on Saturday evening, right after the end of the rally in Cyprus. The following day will see a “Golden Stage” that is not included in the Cyprus Rally and IRC results but the best five drivers will win attractive prizes.

The current IRC leader Jan Kopecký will have to do without his usual co-driver Petr Starý who is ill and had to be replaced by Pavel Dressler: “Pavel and I will make every effort to win the title. We are looking forward to this rally, it’s a big challenge. As far as we know, the track is new to all the drivers. It will be a great battle and we will have to do our best.”

Last year’s IRC Champion and fresh SWRC Champion 2011 Juho Hänninen is also confident before the upcoming rally: “We made a big dream come true in Spain by winning the World Championship title. I have never competed in Cyprus but I’ve heard that the stages there are a mix of basically everything. The combination of a large number of top class drivers and a mix of gravel and asphalt will undoubtedly be the climax of this year’s IRC season – this is indeed what rallying is all about. We are looking forward to it very much and we’ll our best to succeed.”