Sanremo strategy not altered, says ace Kopecky

Jan Kopecký insists he didn’t alter his strategy and attack on the final afternoon of Rallye Sanremo, despite claiming a hat-trick of stage bests in his ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000.

Kopecký reached the midday regroup on Saturday trailing event leader Giandomenico Basso by 52.6s and confirmed he would focus on reaching the finish to help ŠKODA celebrate its capture of a third IRC makes’ award.

“For us I think Giando was not pushing, we were just driving through the stages,” said the Czech ace. “We changed a bit the set-up and the behaviour of the car was a bit better. I wanted to go fast – if you are slower you lose concentration. I tried to go fast but I was not pushing at 100 per cent because it was really important to come to the finish after my team-mate Juho [Hänninen] went out of the road [on Friday].”

Kopecký added: “It was great to have one ŠKODA on the podium and it’s great I managed to do this. It’s the third time ŠKODA has won the IRC manufacturers’ title for sure. The car is really fast and in the category of Super 2000 it is the best car you can have.”