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Ieper, 29 June 2013 – Belgian rallying legend Freddy Loix secured a superb victory for ŠKODA on home soil. Despite coming up against challenging weather conditions, the 42-year-old celebrated with co-driver Frederic Miclotte in the Fabia S2000 an impressive start-to-finish victory at the FIA European Rally Championship's (ERC) sixth race of the season. ŠKODA, spearheaded by the Czech duo of Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler, also leads the way in the ERC overall standings at the halfway point in the season.

"The dream team is back. I'm absolutely delighted with my eighth victory in Begium and my third in the ŠKODA," said Loix. "It was not easy keeping everything under control. But we found a good rhythm and stayed focused. The car was fantastic." After successes in 2010 and 2011, this was Fast Freddy's third victory in the ŠKODA in front of a home crowd.

Loix laid the foundations for this most recent triumph on the first two days. After taking top spot in the first ever qualifying stage to be staged in Belgium, Loix went on to win five of the six stages on day one. Going into Saturday with a healthy lead of over a minute, the experienced pro avoided taking any unnecessary risks to secure an outstanding victory in slippery conditions.

"At times, it was quite tricky as it was wet out there. But I always felt good driving the ŠKODA and didn't make any mistakes," said Loix. In the end, the Belgian finished ahead of the Frenchman Bryan Bouffier by a clear margin. With covering 297.93 kilometres in total, Belgium's historic rally is the longest in the ERC's calendar.

Loix and co-driver Miclotte's place in the rally would not have been possible without the support of ŠKODA Belgium. "A big thank you to all the mechanics and everyone else at ŠKODA Motorsport for their great support. I'd also like to thank ŠKODA Belgium," said Loix.

Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler have already raised a few eyebrows when demonstrating the ŠKODA's blistering pace on a variety of road surfaces. From the four ERC races the pair has been involved in so far this season, they have celebrated victory in Austria, on the Canary Islands and on the Azores; the ŠKODA duo also took second place on Corsica. With 146 points, the Czech pairing head the field at the season's halfway point. Next up in the ERC is the Romanian Sibiu Rally taking place from 25 to 27 June.

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