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Otepää, 19 July 2014 – The ŠKODA drivers picked up valuable championship points at the high-speed Rally Estonia. Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (FIN/FIN) finished in fifth place at the seventh race of the season in the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC), which sees them extend their lead in the overall standings. Their closest rivals are brand mates from the team ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland: Sepp Wiegand/Frank Christian (D/D) finished seventh in the factory Fabia Super 2000 and are in second place in the championship. ŠKODA now travel to their ERC home rally in the city of Zlín (29-31 August 2014) in the east of the Czech Republic with a one-two lead in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings.

The Rally Estonia was added to the ERC calendar for the first time this year. The two ŠKODA driver duos were excited to see what the gravel tracks around the winter sports resort of Otepää in southern Estonia had in store for them. Obviously it was going to be fast: the fastest special stages of the ERC. Average speeds of more than 127 km/h were achieved regularly across the two rally days, in which the participants had to tackle a total of 231.55 kilometres of special stages. The winners were local heroes Ott Tänak/Raigo Mõlder (EST/EST).

"It really was an incredibly fast rally. We pretty much drove in sixth gear the whole time. I'm not even used to that in my Finnish home town," said Lappi. "To keep up with the 'local heroes' we had to take even more risks in some difficult conditions. At the end of the tenth special stage, for example, it was raining so much that we could hardly see anything. Looking at the ERC overall standings, it was sensible not to take any unnecessary risks. The positive is that we have extended our lead in the championship ahead of the ŠKODA home rally in Zlín."

Talking of the ŠKODA home rally: German rally ace Wiegand will take part in the legendary Barum Czech Rally as the new number two in the championship. "We didn't make it onto the podium this time, but it was still the coolest rally I've ever driven in," said Wiegand. "I can say that I've gained valuable experience in Estonia, since there aren't such quick gravel tracks anywhere else in Europe. I'm also delighted to have picked up important championship points."

The next ERC race takes place from 29 to 31 August in ŠKODA's home country of the Czech Republic. Two weeks before this, ŠKODA will take part in the Malaysian Rally as the leader in the manufacturers' standings in the FIA Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). European champion Jan Kopecký (CZ) travels to Malaysia at the top of the APRC standings after two victories in three rallies. Team-mate Gaurav Gill (IND), who won the season opener in New Zealand ahead of Kopecký, is in second place in the championship.

The number of the Rally Estonia: 8,250

The maximum number of revolutions per minute of the ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000 is 8,250 r/min – after that the engine electronics of the 279 hp unit in the high-tech four-wheel drive from Mladá Boleslav reduce automatically. This doesn't happen as frequently at any other rally on the ERC calendar as it does on the extremely fast gravel tracks of the Rally Estonia. The highest speed measured by the organizers was 230 km/h.

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