In a pair of announcements issued today (Wednesday), Skoda has announced that the Red Bull Skoda team will not take part in the 2007 FIA World Rally Championship and that the company will instead spend the year developing a Super 2000 variant of the new Fabia, to be launched next year.
The Skoda Board of Directors has approved a plan to develop the Super 2000 Fabia throughout 2007 with a view to it being introduced at a later date. It sees Super 2000 as an attractive category of the sport and aims to produce a car which will be attractive to privateers or up and coming talents, both nationally and internationally.
Skoda becomes the fifth manufacturer to commit to Super 2000, which from 2007 will run alongside Group N in the production car World Rally Championship. Cars from Fiat and Toyota have already been homologated and appeared on the WRC, notably Alister McRae's debut of the Toyota Corolla S20000R on the recent Wales Rally GB, setting several fastest Group N stage times.
Examples from Volkswagen and Peugeot are expected to be homologated in 1 January 2007 while Renault also developed one car but this project has been shelved as the company concentrates on Formula One. There is also a Lada S2000 running in its native land but there is no indication of whether this will reach international competition.
Ford has also recently confirmed it is looking into developing a S2000 car for the privateer market, although it stressed it was no more than a feasibility study at this stage.
The withdrawal of the Red Bull Skoda team from the WRC means that Czech driver Jan Kopecky will fly the Skoda flag in the 2007 WRC, with continued support from the manufacturer. However, it also means that at the moment, Harri Rovanpera and Andreas Aigner are without a drive. Red Bull has confirmed that it is seeking a position for Aigner but no mention is made in the team statements about Rovanpera.
-WRC.com
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