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Las Palmas, 17 March 2012 –Taking place on asphalt roads in Gran Canaria, the second event of this year´s IRC championship offered a thrilling spectacle. The fans saw a fierce battle for every second between winner Jan Kopecký of ŠKODA Motorsport and second-placed Andreas Mikkelsen of ŠKODA UK Motorsport. Although Mikkelsen had a 3.6 second lead after the last-but-one stage, it was Jan Kopecký who celebrated victory in the end. ŠKODA has thus achieved a second consecutive double to reinforce its lead in the Manufacturers category and Mikkelsen tops the standings in the Drivers category.

Both drivers of factory Fabia Super 2000s – Andreas Mikkelsen and Jan Kopecký – set the pace right at the beginning and it soon became clear that the only candidates for winning this rally were the two of them. Kopecký won eight stages in total, Mikkelsen won seven. Kopecký had a 1.2 second lead after Day 1, but Mikkelsen caught up with him in Saturday´s first stage and remained first up until the last stage, defending a tiny lead over Kopecký. However, Mikkelsen had bad luck in the last stage when a minor technical problem cost him the overall victory. Making his asphalt debut in a Fabia Super 2000, Sepp Wiegand of ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland repeated his fourth place from the Azores Islands and is third overall after the first two events of this year´s IRC series.

Commenting on the Canary Islands Rally, Head of the ŠKODA Motorsport team Michal Hrabánek says: "We have achieved a second consecutive double, which means that ŠKODA has indeed made a very good start to this season. The battle between Andreas and Jan was lovely and thrilling from the beginning until the end – these fights for every second are very exciting from the spectators´ point of view and are actually very typical of the IRC championship. I wish to thank all of the teams with Fabia Super 2000s for representing ŠKODA really excellently".

Jan Kopecký: "The Canary Islands Rally is one of my favourite events, the grip on the asphalt roads here is great and the routes and absolutely lovely. It was a fierce battle with the decisive moments in the last stage, but we wanted to win, obviously. We are looking forward to our next opportunity to appear in the IRC, but now we are going to concentrate on the Wallachian Rally where we want to put in the best possible performance to please our home audience".

The IRC championship continues with the Ireland Rally that is taking place in the surroundings of the town of Armagh over the first weekend of April. Next weekend Jan Kopecký will appear at the Wallachian Rally that is part of the Czech Rally Championship. Kopecký & Dresler won the first event of the Czech Championship – the Jänner Rally in January.
ŠKODA has set up a video news service for the events that it takes part in. Highlights and interviews are available on www.youtube.com/motorsportskoda.

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