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Whangarei, 18 May, 2013 – The newly created ŠKODA MRF teams had a perfect start to the Rally Whangarei in New Zealand. At the end of the first day and after eight  of 16 special stages Esapekka Lappi/Janne Ferm (Finland) on the ŠKODA Fabia S2000 lead teammates Gaurav Gill/Glenn MacNeall (India/New Zealand) by 33.3 seconds.

The two ŠKODA Teams fought out an exciting duel in the first leg of the Asia Pacific Rally Championship (APRC) in good conditions on a course which dried out quickly after overnight rainfalls but was still quite soggy in the forest areas. At the finish in Whangarei Gill was 2:58.9 minutes ahead of the team in third place.

In the early morning the drivers also had to put up with thick fog in New Zealands north. „The visibility was only about 50 metres", reported Lappi. He won a total of five special stages on the 139.92 kilometres and Gill the other three. „That was real fun with lots of bends, bends, bends", he said enthusiastically.

Gill lost a big chunk of his overall deficit in comparison to Lappi on the third stage. „We had a spin and our engine shut off and we had to restart and reverse and then get back on the track. But this was no problem", Gill said after the race: „Lappi and I are pushing each other." Lappi said it was good that he had a strong competitor in his own team mate and praised the ŠKODA Fabia S2000: „The car was perfect, no problems at all."" The rally will be continued and will finish on Sunday with another eight stages and a total of 148.24 kilometres.

ŠKODA´s entry to the APRC is an important step in terms of the brand´s growth offensive in international markets. The brand´s ambition is to increase annual sales to 1.5 million vehicles/year by 2018, and Asia is exactly the region where ŠKODA plans to grow substantially.

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