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Sanremo, 12 October 2013 – Esapekka Lappi and his co-driver Janne Ferm put in a strong recovery for ŠKODA at the 55th Rallye Sanremo, finishing in second place. The two Finns delivered a strong performance on the second day of this classic rally in the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) to move up four places. Jan Kopecký (CZ), who is already the 2013 European champion,* provided the pair with some valuable tips as a spectator in the ŠKODA team.

"It was a really tough rally. It's fantastic to have competed here for the first time and to have made it onto the podium straight away," said a delighted Lappi. "And we have been able to gather a lot of experience on asphalt here." The fast Finn achieved the quickest time in the tenth and final special stage, which bumped him up from fourth place and onto the podium. The spectacular mountain tracks by the Mediterranean were an entirely new arena for the 22-year-old. He is also relatively inexperienced on asphalt. But he made no mistakes in his second ERC appearance of the year.

His experienced teammate Kopecký, who has already clinched the ERC championship title for ŠKODA with six wins this season and who experienced the legendary Rallye Sanremo as a spectator this time around, was a great help during the rally. "Jan gave me lots of very good tips," said Lappi. Lappi was therefore all the more delighted to see Kopecký and his co-driver Pavel Dresler present the trophies during the victory ceremony on Saturday evening.

The winner of last year's Finnish rally championship once again demonstrated his talent by finishing in second place. Last year, he won the ERC race in Poland, and this year he won the WRC-2 category at Rally Portugal. He has also already scored two wins in the current season of the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC), and will be in the running for the championship title at the final race in China on 2 and 3 November: "Me and my teammate Gaurav Gill have a clear goal – and that's to win the manufacturers' championship for ŠKODA."

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