Motorsport adds flavour and supports the business

Johannes Neft a Michal Hrabánek

Motorsport Adds Flavour and Supports the Business

This year, the carmaker will celebrate 125 years of participation in motorsport competitions. The Board Member for Technical Development and the Head of EM – Škoda Motorsport explain how motorsport fits into Škoda Auto’s strategy and look back on its successful history.

What celebrations are you planning for the 125th anniversary of Škoda’s participation in motorsport?

Michal Hrabánek: Among others, we’ll produce many commemorative items and special editions. Of course, we’re also planning various events to celebrate motorsport history together.

Which achievements over the past 125 years do you consider the most significant?

M. Hrabánek: I remember many of those achievements myself. (laughs) I recall quite well how we celebrated the 100th anniversary. Still, it’s hard to pick specific milestones. Each achievement was unique in its time, making them difficult to compare. For example, I clearly remember the double victory at the 1977 Monte Carlo Rally. I was 7 years old, and it made a huge impression on me. At the time, I never imagined I’d be part of it. And in 2017, we even won the Monte Carlo Rally with a car in the same colours as back then.

Johannes Neft: For me as well, the successes in Monte Carlo are crucial. And the fact that we successfully launched the rally programme with the Fabia model. It’s also important that Czech drivers have always been able to win with Škoda cars. That was true in the past, and it’s still true today. Our programme also has the advantage that importers and dealers in the markets where we operate can also have their own local heroes.

We must acknowledge the tremendous support for motorsport from everyone at Škoda. It’s extremely valuable for our programme.

Škoda cars are currently excelling in rallying in particular. The Fabia RS Rally2 competition car is one of the most successful cars in this category. What’s the secret to its success?

J. Neft: We have extensive experience and knowledge in motorsport – both technical and commercial. Škoda Motorsport has highly motivated and enthusiastic people who’ve achieved a great deal alongside their passion. A key advantage is close collaboration with other technical development departments and the use of their expertise. This creates a beneficial mix that allows us to develop a world-class competition car, which we’re constantly improving. It’s also extremely important that we do not focus on ourselves. The Fabia RS Rally2 is a car for our customers, and we support them intensively. This is a core part of our philosophy.

What is the demand for these cars? You’ve delivered over 700 cars in 10 years. Is interest still high?

M. Hrabánek: The market is growing from year to year. Our competitors are also growing, yet we sell more and more competition cars every year. Rally2 is a very successful category, both commercially and in terms of spectators perhaps the most successful. And we’re the leaders in this regard. We started with 50 specials sold per year, and in 2025 that number reached 93. This gives our cars the largest share of the Rally2 market.

Škoda Motorsport focuses on the customer programme. Do you miss having a factory team?

M. Hrabánek: In motorsport, the general trend is towards customer sport, and Rally2 is also a purely customer category in terms of rules. Given the number of cars sold, it would be counterproductive for us to compete with our customers. One advantage of our approach is that we strive to ensure a level playing field for all customers. A factory team would disrupt that. The customer car approach is also more advantageous for us from a business perspective. The 700 cars sold give us greater visibility among fans than two or three factory cars. However, I can imagine that we could have a factory team in the future. It depends on how the World Rally Championship (WRC) rules develop after 2027. For us, there are future paths that could include Rally2­based support. But that won’t happen in the next two or three years.

Johannes Neft receives valuable advice from drivers Jan Kopecký and Michal Hrabánek before driving the Fabia RS Rally2.

What could the new WRC27 rules mean for you?

M. Hrabánek: We don’t know the full set of rules yet, but it seems clear that the new WRC specification cars and Rally2 cars will co-exist until at least 2030. Until then, we can continue to rely on our model and improve the car and our services. We want to continue offering maximum support to our customers, including direct engineer support at competitions, a bonus programme in the European Rally Championship (ERC) and excellent spare-parts availability. At the same time, we know the WRC27 rules may be interesting and could allow us to use the same engine and transmission and partly the same suspension components as in the current car. We’re monitoring the situation, and it will also depend on customer interest.

Where is rallying headed?

J. Neft: Sustainability is playing an increasingly important role in motorsport in general, and in rallying in particular. We strongly support the International Automobile Federation (FIA) in this regard and also strive to communicate these issues more widely. We’re showing how we can work with sustainable fuels and lubricants, as well as natural materials, in car design. I think this approach will appeal to a lot of people. It also helps us develop materials for potential use in series production.

Is the Enyaq RS Race concept related to this?

J. Neft: The Enyaq RS Race isn’t the first electric rally car we’ve developed. We already have experience with the Fabia RE-X1 Kreisel model, built in collaboration with Kreisel Electric and the Baumschlager Rallye & Racing team. However, the Enyaq RS Race is primarily a demonstration of what we can do on the current MEB platform. It serves as inspiration for our production cars, showing us how to make them more emotive. We don’t plan to race it yet, as there isn’t a suitable competition category for it.

What aspects of this concept could appear in production cars?

J. Neft: The use of biocomposite parts is very interesting, and we’re already applying them to a lesser extent in the Fabia RS Rally2 competition model. And we’re considering using them in production cars. We’ve gained some very interesting insights from the development of the Enyaq RS Race concept in the field of aerodynamics. We’re trying to use them in the development of production cars.

The VW Group brands are very active in motorsport. Do you collaborate with them in this area?

M. Hrabánek: Each brand participates in a slightly different discipline, so we don’t directly share technical knowledge. However, we do collaborate; for example, we work together to develop a communication strategy with the FIA, consult on rules and help each other with car homologation procedures. We also support each other in finding suppliers of special parts.

Škoda has helped to nurture a number of great drivers. How do you develop young talent?

J. Neft: Many drivers have come through our programme and achieved success with Škoda cars or later in higher categories. We’re delighted that drivers who start their careers with us go on to succeed elsewhere. That’s why we continue to support talented drivers and believe in their potential. Many promising drivers compete in Škoda cars. If I had to mention someone specific, I would definitely recommend following the career of Robert Virves, for example.

M. Hrabánek: Fans, spectators and competitors appreciate our traditional support for young drivers. We are known for this and it makes us more approachable. It reflects a human approach. One former Škoda driver described it as a “rally university”.

Another great season

Last year, Škoda competition cars won rally competitions around the world. They helped secure the European championship title and the WRC2 Challenger victory. You can find an overview of our successes on here.