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Pécs, 11 September, 2011 – A fantastic rally with a nerve-wracking end – that was the Mecsek Rally that took place in the surrounding of Pécs, Hungary this weekend. Driving a ŠKODA Fabia Super 2000, Jan Kopecký of ŠKODA Motorsport (factory team) achieved the tightest victory in the history of the IRC Championship when Thierry Neuville in a Peugeot came just 0.8 sec behind him! Freddy Loix, also in a Fabia, finished third. Kopecký has moved up to the top of the IRC standings and ŠKODA has reinforced its lead in the Manufacturers Cup.

The event started on Friday with a 1.2-km-long prologue in the centre of Pécs which, however, was not included in the overall results. In a sunny weather, with temperatures climbing over 30 degrees Celsius and with average speeds getting over 120 km/h, both Saturday and Sunday saw a number of exciting duels between Jan Kopecký and Andreas Mikkelsen, both in Fabia Super 2000s. The difference between these two drivers after Day 1 (one of the stages scheduled for Saturday was eventually cancelled) was just 8.7 sec. The fierce fight between Mikkelsen and Kopecký then continued on Sunday - Mikkelsen kept increasing his lead and was apparently cruising to his first IRC victory, but then he flew off the track in the last-but-one stage and the game was suddenly over for him. As a consequence, the lead was taken over by Kopecký who held off an impressive finish from Neuville to beat him by just 0.8 sec! In his IRC premiere, Hermann Gassner of Red Bull ŠKODA came fifth, beaten only by drivers who top the current IRC standings.

Head of ŠKODA Motorsport Michal Hrabánek: Congratulations to Jan and Petr (Kopecký's co-driver Petr Starý) on their second victory this year – just like in Zlín the other day, this event was very dramatic till then end. We are very sorry for Andreas, he was so near achieving a great result. We can really be satisfied at the moment, because we have won important points for the Manufacturers Cup and Jan Kopecký tops the current IRC standings. However, when you look at the coefficients of the last two events to go, it is obvious that the end of the season will still be interesting and exciting."

Jan Kopecký: "Andreas certainly deserved to win here, because he was fastest of all of us. On the other hand, we had good luck, one of the things you need in rallying. We are in the lead of the IRC Championship now, which is very positive before the final stages of this series."

Freddy Loix: "We made a good start to this event, but then we started losing. The car was great and we were doing our best, but that was not enough for a better result. The next event is the San Remo Rally, my favourite one, and I believe we will be more successful there."

IRC standings after the Hungarian Rally:

Kopecký (ŠKODA) 120 points
Loix (ŠKODA) 103 points
Hänninen (ŠKODA) 98 points

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