Škoda stars expecting battle to intensify

Škoda Motorsport stars Jan Kopecký and Juho Hänninen are braced for an intense fight to the finish on Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés after completing the opening three stages of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge event in first and third overall respectively, separated by 1.8 seconds.

Kopecký, last year’s winner, moved in front on stage two in his Fabia S2000. However, Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg driver Thierry Neuville is just 0.4s adrift in second overall.

“It’s going to be a big battle until the end,” said Czech Kopecký. “We had some clouds on the third stage, which caused me to brake too late for one hairpin left. But the car has been really perfect. The only problem has been my pacenotes. They are not completely precise because there was a lot of traffic during the recce.”

Hänninen (pictured), meanwhile, was second on Rally Islas Canarias last year. He said: “We’re pushing quite hard but it’s important not to make any mistakes because if you lose any time it will be very difficult to get it back. Neuville has been impressive I must say, he’s set some very good times.”

Crews are shortly about to begin stage four, the repeat of the Gran Karting stage, which is due to go live at 17:22hrs local time.