Skoda aces help launch Fabia RS road car

Skoda Motorsport team-mates Juho Hanninen and Jan Kopecky took time out of their preparations for Rally d’Italia-Sardegna, round five of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, to help launch the Czech firm’s Fabia RS road car.

Hanninen, who currently tops the IRC standings after finishing on the podium on the opening four rounds of the season, has been spending this week at the Sosnova circuit in Czech Republic trialling the Fabia RS, which is based on the S2000-specifiction machine he is using in the IRC. Team-mate Kopecky was present on Monday and Tuesday.

Other Skoda drivers who took part in the launch event include Skoda UK Motorsport’s Guy Wilks, Belgian ace Freddy Loix, who will contest selected rounds of the IRC in a Fabia, Spaniard Alberto Hevia and Frenchman Nicolas Vouilloz, who finished third overall on Rallye Automobile Monte-Carlo back in January at the wheel of a Fabia S2000.