ŠkodaPortal.cz Simply clever

Otepää, 18th July 2014 – ŠKODA is on course to finish in the points after day one of the high-speed Rally Estonia. Finnish duo Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm currently lie fifth in their Fabia Super 2000 at the seventh round of the FIA European Rally Championship. The championship leaders are just ahead of Sepp Wiegand/Frank Christian (D/D): the two youngsters in the ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland team are sixth in the second works car.

The Rally Estonia is a new addition to the ERC calendar, making it the great unknown of this summer of rallying. Neither the ŠKODA Motorsport works team nor the two pairs of drivers have ever competed in the gravel rally around the winter sport centre of Otepää in the south of Estonia. As such, the ŠKODA drivers have taken a tactical approach to the first of the two rally days.

"We are dealing with extremely fast roads here in Estonia, on which even the slightest error can result in retirement immediately," said Lappi. "The stages are even quicker than those in my home of Finland. I could definitely drive faster, but I would then cross the line to a point where I could no longer justify the risks. When it comes down to it, I also have to think about the overall championship standings and to score as many points as possible. Furthermore, the 'local heroes', who play no role in the overall ERC standings, have a clear advantage here when it comes to experience – and they took full advantage of that on Friday. One thing is clear though: we want more on Saturday."

Indeed, the top four at the Rally Estonia consists solely of all-Estonian duos going into the final day. "Compliments to the local guys. We were not quite able to match their pace," said Wiegand. "I have never driven on such fast special stages. But I'll tell you one thing: it is incredibly good fun! We can certainly go faster, but the most important thing is not to make any mistakes. I really want to reach the finish on Saturday and head to the next rally in second place overall."

The second day of the Rally Estonia – the biggest motorsport event in the Baltic states – features a further 107.88 kilometres on gravel, spread over six special stages. The finish lies in Estonia's second largest city, Tartu, where the presentation ceremony will take place at 20:45 local time (19:45 CET) on Saturday.

Number of the day: 8,250

The maximum engine speed of the ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 is 8,250 rpm – then the engine electronics in the 279-hp power unit in the high-tech four-wheel drive vehicle from Mladá Boleslav automatically regulates the engine speed. At no other rally on the ERC calendar does this happen as often as on the extremely quick gravel roads of the Rally Estonia. On Friday, the two ŠKODA duos achieved an average speed of over 126 km/h on some of the stages. For comparison: the top average speed at the traditionally fast gravel rally in Ypres two weeks ago was 115 km/h.

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