Record Number of Skoda Fabia S2000 Cars to Enter the Barum Rally

This year’s Czech Barum Rally Zlin – round seven of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge - will see no less than 14 Fabia S2000 cars lining up at the start, the British division of Skoda announced today. The event is also a round of the European Rally Championship and the International Czech Republic Championship.

Factory entries will see 2009 winner Jan Kopecky and current IRC championship leader Juho Hanninen battling for the title.

“We’re looking forward to it very much. We were the fastest crew here in the last two years and we expect strong support from our great fans. But we know we will be under pressure, because we are expected to succeed here,” said Kopecky.

“We have been doing well at the Barum Rally over the past few years, and we want to continue this trend. This is a difficult rally with many tricky places and one of the climaxes of the season, one of the reasons being the great fans here,” added Hanninen.

Driving some of the other 12 Fabia S2000s will be last year’s winner, Freddy Loix in a Skoda Belgium car, along with Skoda UK Motorsport’s Andreas Mikkelsen. Also lining up for the start will be Zlin native and multiple Czech Republic champion Roman Kresta in a privately-entered S2000, along with Skoda Germany's Mark Wallenwein and Matthias Kahle. Toni Gardemeister is also set to thrill spectators in his Fabia S2000.

The Barum Czech Rally Zlin starts on Friday 26 August and finishes on Sunday afternoon. It consists of 15 special stages totalling 155 competitive miles. Full coverage will be available on Eurosport.