While the Škoda Fabia WRC did not meet Mladá Boleslav’s expectations, the Fabia S2000 once again celebrated success in the colors of the factory team.
This year, the Škoda Motorport factory competition division is celebrating a significant 120th anniversary, in which it offers fans a unique insight into the history of its racing specials. The turn of the millennium was marked by the top category of the WRC, where, however, the Octavia WRC and Fabia WRC did not reap much success. In 2005, a decision was made that Škoda would cancel its factory team. Fortunately, this did not happen for a long time.
After the resignation of the factory team from the WRC World Championship, it was clear that any further applications would be sought by Škoda competition cars in categories whose rules would require a greater relationship between the racing special and the serial base. After all, even from the carmaker’s historical point of view, it was a meaningful solution.
Škoda saw a great opportunity in the Super 2000 Rally (S2000) category, the idea of which was to create a class for customer-oriented racing cars, the development of which will be more accessible to a larger number of car manufacturers and cheaper operation. However, the new class not only promised lower costs, but also better media coverage of the new Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) in key markets thanks to television broadcasting.
The rules were clear and relatively simple: permanent all-wheel drive, an atmospheric two-liter engine and a minimum of electronics. Compared to the sophisticated and perhaps over-engineered Fabia WRC special with a supercharged engine, it could have gone a step back at first glance, but the new Fabia S2000 had nothing to be ashamed of.
The atmospheric two-liter under the hood offered 280 horsepower, only twenty horsepower less than the Fabia WRC – moreover, at a lower weight. The carmaker entered the IRC championship with two visions. The main priority was to succeed in selected competitions, but at the same time the carmaker hoped that it would also succeed in selling Fabia S2000 production competition cars to private customers.
The renewed Škoda Motorsport factory team made its premiere with the new Fabia S2000 at the traditional Monte Carlo Rally 2009, where it surprised the racing world and earned recognition. In addition, several other exceptional moments came during other competitions within the IRC series, such as the victory of the Hänninen – Markkula crew at the July Russian Rally or two victories of the Kopecký – Starý crew at the Barum Rally and the Costa Brava Rally.
In the first season, the Kopecký – Starý crew won second place in the IRC championship and Škoda took the same position among the manufacturers, despite the fact that it did not participate in the entire series. But that was just the beginning. In 2010, Škoda won the entire IRC Championship and its driver Juho Hänninen won among the drivers. In addition, Jan Kopecký followed the second place.
Škoda also won the tough competition of other brands in the next two years, but instead of Hänninen, driver Andreas Mikkelsen was happy to win. In addition, since 2013, the car has also participated in the European Rally Championship, where it dominated for the next three seasons. The culmination of the Fabia S2000’s successful factory career in 2014 was the victory in the Asia-Pacific Championship, which was achieved by the Kopecký – Dresler crew.
Between 2009 and 2014, drivers with the Škoda Fabia S2000 special won a total of 50 national and international titles worldwide. The Fabia S2000 thus managed to bring the Mladá Boleslav brand back to the forefront of world competitions, which the authors of the special and the people in the management of the carmaker and the renewed Škoda Motorsport division could only quietly hope for at the beginning of the project.
The Škoda Fabia S2000 thus became the real beginning of the renaissance of Škoda competition cars, which has lasted for more than ten years. In addition, it is also the most successful era in the history of the Škoda Motorsport factory team.
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