Škoda Motorsport Sends Three Fabias To Finland For The World’s Fastest Rally

[ColinD]

Three car Škoda Motorsport entry for ‘Finnish Grand Prix’

Jani Paasonen joins Toni Gardemeister and Armin Schwarz

Fabia WRC claims three national wins since Acropolis Rally


After an unbroken run of wins from its programme of three national rallies in Germany, Finland and the Czech Republic to test the latest revisions to the Fabia WRC, Škoda Motorsport returns to World Rally Championship competition at Rally Finland (August 6-8). To ensure the best chance of gaining maximum performance data from the most technical rally of the year, Škoda Motorsport will enter three cars for the event, driven as usual by Toni Gardemeister and Armin Schwarz along with ‘guest‘ driver Jani Paasonen.



The rally is the fastest and most spectacular event in the World Rally Championship. In recent seasons the winning car has averaged 120kph over the smooth gravel stages and speeds can peak at around 170kph. The stages themselves are characterised by high-speed jumps where the cars can be airborne for over 50 metres at a time. It is very much a rally where local knowledge plays a major role in success and in its 53-year history only three non-Scandinavian drivers have won.



Toni said: “After the Exide Rally win I am quite confident of a good result in Finland. Our performance last month showed we have increased the performance of the car a lot since last season so we will see how we compare to the WRC teams.“



Armin said: “Rally Finland is actually one of my favourite events despite it being one of the most difficult for me. The nature of the roads makes it hard for visiting drivers to find the pace quickly. The problem then comes because the local drivers already have an advantage and your overall result is compromised from the start. With two Finns in the team for this year’s event I think my role will be to chase a solid result and let Toni and Jani push for a place in the points.“



Jani said: “I am really excited about joining the Škoda Motorsport team for my home event. I have tested the car and it feels very good. I made some adjustments for my own driving style as I prefer a little understeer while Toni sets his car up for oversteer but otherwise it felt right from the start. As for the result, I am aiming to be the highest placed Škoda Fabia driver at the finish!”



Head of Škoda Motorsport, Martin Muehlmeier, said: “Our decision to contest three national rallies was a successful plan. Each event taught us something new or useful about the Fabia WRC development that helped us make further positive steps forward. To win all three events was a nice bonus for us. I believe that these improvements will be visible in Finland.”



Team news:



The most visible change to the Fabia WRC that will be seen in Finland is a new electronic dashboard that significantly reduces weight in the cockpit and also locates that weight lower and more centrally in the car for better balance.



Since returning to WRC competition at the Acropolis Rally in early June, Škoda Motorsport has been exceptionally busy with its development programme both in competition and in private testing. Armin Schwarz dominated June’s Saarland Rally that uses stages similar to those on Rallye Deutschland (August 20-22) to give the Fabia WRC its first outright rally victory. Toni Gardemeister then won the Exide Rally (July 3), one of the traditional ‘warm-up‘ events for Rally Finland, with a similar dominant performance. Finally Czech driver Jan Kopecky snatched a third victory for Škoda Motorsport at the Bohemia Rally (July 9 - 11) that took place around the team’s home town of Mladá Boleslav in the CzechRepublic.



Rally Finland in detail:



Rally Finland is based at Jyvaskyla in central Finland and of the older rallies in the WRC this is the only event to have been based at the same town throughout its history. Friday’s 119.35kms opening leg takes crews in a loop of 10 stages close to Jyvaskyla. Saturday is the longest leg of the event (at 167.80kms) and heads south west of the town towards a remote service halt near Jamsa. The eight scheduled stages include two runs over the spectacular Ouninpohja stage and also include the longest stage of the event, Moksi, at 40.96kms. Sunday’s final leg features just four stages (95.26kms) to the west of the host town with the ceremonial finish outside Rally HQ at 1440.