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Ponta Delgada, 26 April, 2013 – Despite extreme weather conditions and challenging special stages: ŠKODA leads the Rally Azores with driver duo Jan Kopecký/Pavel Dresler (CZ/CZ) at the two-thirds mark.

The challenging gravel rally on the Atlantic island of São Miguel is one of the highlights of the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) calendar. And it certainly lived up to its reputation of being utterly unpredictable. Thick mist, strong winds and ever-present rain showers turned the special stages, consisting mainly of narrow passes and rocky ridges created by volcanic craters, into a true test of man and machine. Eventually the extreme weather conditions forced the cancellation of two timed stages.

"The lead is naturally a super provisional position," said Jan Kopecký, who won one of the ten contested stages and finished in the top three on a further seven. "But, it is just that: a provisional lead. Today we saw how quickly things can change on a single stage. As expected the conditions here on the Azores are extremely challenging. Therefore we need to be careful every metre along the way. We have achieved a lot, but nothing has been decided."

On Saturday the fourth rally of the European Rally Championship season consists of a further 111,15 timed kilometres spread over seven stages before the Sata Rally Azores ends during the evening in Ponta Delgada.

The Rally Azores will again be broadcast live on Saturday – on TV on Eurosport.

Sata Rally Azores live coverage schedule *:
Saturday, 27 April, 2013:
SPECIAL STAGE 14: Tronqueira 1 (21.33 km): 12:15–13:15 (Eurosport Player)
SPECIAL STAGE 19: Tronqueira 2 (21.33 km): 19:00–20:00 (Eurosport)

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