- Valašská Rally 2007

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8.4.07 Jan Kopecký has won bronze for the Škoda Fabia Kit Car

Jan Kopecký-Filip Schovánek crew with the Škoda Fabia Kit Car of team Impromat have participated in the initial contest of the Czech Republic ’s Rally Championship. Jan alongside with Filip, who start in the World Rally Championship with their Škoda Fabia WRC Czech Rally Team Kopecký car, gave an excellent performance in Valašsko and from Valašské Meziříčí, the center of the Valašská Rally; they are bringing home a bronze medal.

The initial leg has lead the crews on Friday eve through technical special stages into the surrounding areas of Valašské Meziříčí; their difficulty was only intensified by the falling darkness. The special stages, covered by the darkness, have placed greater demands on the schedule of the individual crews and Jan Kopecký with Filip Schovánek turned in an impressive performance. In two of the four special stages, they have not found an equal and they closed the leg in an unexpected first place with an almost 30 second lead on the second best crew.

With regards to the character of the special stages of Saturday’s leg and especially the fact that the crews raced the Saturday’s leg in daylight, there was a high probability almost bordering with certainty that Jan Kopecký with his Kit Car class car will not be able to hold off the attack of the pursuers, who were driving highest class cars, the WRC.

Jan Kopecký and Filip Schovánek with their start in the Valašská Rally have proven the competitive ability of the Škoda Fabia Kit Car and the third place they have won is understandably a remarkable appreciation to the technicians and mechanics of the Impromat Motorsport Team, which prepares the Škoda race car.

“I am glad that I can race for the Škoda brand in world as well as the Czech Republic, and that is why I have not hesitated a single second once I received the offer from Mr. Vlastimil Brůzl from the Impromat Motorsport Team to participate in the Valašská Rally with the Škoda Fabia Kit Car. And even though the previous weekend we have started in the World Championship Rally de Portugal with the Škoda Fabia WRC car, I was anxiously looking forward to the start in front of the Czech fans with a Škoda car.

Following the incoming flight from Portugal we have transferred with Filip to the location of the Valašská Rally in order to test the prepared Škoda Fabia Kit Car. I performed a fifteen kilometer test with the car and was quite happy especially with the engine’s torque power and improved riding qualities. The development of the Škoda Fabia Kit Car has not ceased and the improvements in comparison to last year are very considerable. Impromat Motorsport Team under the leadership of Vlastimil Brůzl has developed a real competition car, which is a very suitable choice for young drivers. I felt very good in controlling the car and especially on tarmac special stages is its controllability significantly more attractive than in a production line car.

I was understandably pleased by the unexpected win in Friday’s leg, because there were also two WRC class cars standing at the start. Team work with Filip has worked traditionally great and in the nighttime special stages we tried to use the starting schedule to improve the times at the technical special stages. And before the start of the second leg, we expected not to be able to keep up with the WRC class cars, because the special stages were less demanding and especially during daylight the starting schedule’s impact on the achieved times is notably diminished.

We are of course utmost happy with results and I enjoyed the race very much,” said the driver Jan Kopecký at the finish line of the Valašská Rally.