Kopecký: powersteering fault will be solved

Jan Kopecký says he is confident that the powersteering fault that has plagued his ŠKODA Motorsport Fabia Super 2000 on the final morning of Sata Rallye Açores will be rectified at the midday service halt in Ponta Delgada.

The Czech looked set to drop out of the battle for third place when the powersteering problem occurred only for close rival Bruno Magalhães to retire with transmission failure following Saturday’s first stage.

Kopecký explained: “On the first stage it was not so difficult as the speed was not so high because of the fog. On the second stage it was very twisty and the system was overheating quite much and starts not to work at all. I just drove through. Fortunately the superspecial stage is very wide so you don’t need the powersteering that much.”

The ŠKODA driver revealed the powersteering issue first emerged at Friday evening’s service: “We had some problems yesterday with the pump so we changed it but it seems there is another small problem. The team will check it now and hopefully it will be okay.”

Despite the powersteering glitch, Kopecký is comfortable in third place, 1m53.8s ahead of Bryan Bouffier.