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A Fabia-lous ERC result for ŠKODA on the Acropolis Rally

The ŠKODA Fabia R5 finished in the top four places on the SEAJETS Acropolis Rally, as it became the third different car to win in as many FIA European Rally Championship rounds this season.

The victory for Ralfs Sirmacis in Greece followed wins for the Ford Fiesta R5 of Alexey Lukyanuk on Rally Islas Canarias El Corte Inglés and Citroën DS3 R5 of Craig Breen on the Circuit of Ireland.

It was the first time that even the same make of car had occupied the entire podium on an ERC qualifier since three Peugeot 207 S2000s led in Valais in 2012. Earlier that year, the ŠKODA Fabia S2000 finished in each of the top six places on its home event, the Barum Czech Rally Zlín.

Three of the men involved on that occasion - Roman Kresta (who finished second as a driver) and the crew of Jaromír Tarabus and Daniel Trunkát (fourth place) - were celebrating again in Greece, with the Kresta Racing team running the Czech pair to third position.

Sports Racing Technologies, with backing from ŠKODA Baltic Motorsport, could cheer a one-four result for Sirmacis and Raul Jeets, while Motorsport Italia were responsible for the Lascaris Foundation Team Greece car taken to second place by local hero Lambros Athanassoulas.

It was a third ERC victory for the Fabia R5 in the ERC, after the wins of Freddy Loix and Jan Kopecký in Ypres and Zlín respectively in 2015. Incidentally, just a week before the Acropolis, Loix and Kopecký led podium lockouts for the Fabia R5 in the Belgian and Czech championships.

Zdroj: fiaerc.com