Czech rally ace driving for historic series win

Jan Kopeck? set to wrap up European Rally Championship title in Škoda Fabia

Rally driver Jan Kopecký is poised to become the first Czech winner of the European Rally Championship, with an event in Croatia this week offering the 31-year-old the chance to wrap up the title in his Škoda Fabia. Kopecký has scored five victories, one second place and one third place in the seven events in the series he has entered this year, and with a points tally of 248, almost double that of second-placed Bryan Bouffier on 129, he is already all but guaranteed this year's title.

He could formally secure victory in the series with a strong performance in his Fabia S2000 in the Rally Croatia, which takes place from September 26 to 28 around Pore? on the Adriatic coast. Along with his Czech co-driver Pavel Dresler, Kopecký has triumphed this year in Austria, the Azores, the Canary Islands, the Czech Republic, and Romania. The pair came second in the championship rally in Corsica and third in the championship event in Poland, while they did not contest the series' rallies in Latvia and Belgium.

"After the rally in Poland, which was held in very difficult conditions, with rain and mud, we are looking forward to the asphalt roads in Croatia. We want to score the points needed to win the championship," Kopecký said in a statement. "As such, our strategy will be to drive quickly, but without taking any unnecessary risks." This weekend's rally is made up of 14 stages totaling 239.12 kilometers on tarmac that Škoda said is "well-known for being slippery."

In total, the series this season consists of 12 events, although only a driver's best four results from the first half of the season, and best four from the second half, are taken into account when the championship is decided.

The European Rally Championship dates back to 1953, and in recent years has often been dominated by Italian drivers, with other winners over the past decade coming from Belgium and France. Last year, the title was won by Finland's Juho Hänninen, who was driving a Fabia, S2000, the same model Kopecký has piloted this year. The ERC merged this year with the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, which in its last three seasons was also won by Fabia S2000 drivers, with Hänninen taking the title in 2010 and Andreas Mikkelsen from Norway winning in 2011 and 2012.

Kopecký, who comes from Opo?no in the Hradec Králové region in the northeast of the Czech Republic, has scored victories in the European Rally Championship in previous years, including in 2010 and 2012, although this year's championship is the first in which he has contested sufficient events to challenge for the title. From 2002 to 2008, Kopecký also took part in World Rally Championship events, with his best results, fifth places in 2006 and 2007, achieved while driving Fabias.

As well as the European Rally Championship, this season Škoda is contesting the Asian-Pacific Rally Championship, which the Australian Christ Atkinson won last year in a Fabia, and the World Rally Championship - 2, which is one of the sister series to the main World Rally Championship, the world's premier rallying series. As well as Kopecký, a number of other Czech drivers have also competed in events in this year's European Rally Championship, including Václav Pech, who currently lies sixth in the overall standings, and Jaromír Tarabus, who is in tenth position.

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