Successful tarmac test of the new Skoda Fabia Super 2000. Two time world champion Carlos Sainz, joined experienced test drivers Jan Kopecky and Raimund Baumschlager; the team recently tested the competition version of the Fabia Super 2000 in Austria. The Volkswagen factory driver won the Central European Rally with a Race Touareg this year in April and contributed to the double success of the new Scirocco in its class at the 24-hour race in Nurnburgring a few days ago.

A number of big names of motor sport attended the test rides of the new Skoda Fabia Super 2000 in order to check the project progress, including Hans-Joachim Stuck of the Volkswagen Motor Sport Department.

The test was not Sainz's first experience of driving a Skoda – the Spanish driver won the Shalymar Rally (near Madrid) with a Fabia in the autumn of last year, and so he felt like trying out the new version of the Fabia Super 2000. "I have got to know the Skoda Fabia really well, and I can see a huge step forward as far as the development of the competition version is concerned", said Sainz, authorised to take part in this test by Volkswagen Motor Sport Department Director Kris Nissen.

Skoda Fabia Super 2000 (2009)
Skoda Fabia Super 2000 (2009) - picture 1 of 2
Skoda Fabia Super 2000 (2009) - picture 2 of 2

Commenting on the project, Dr. Eckhard Scholz, Skoda Auto BOD Member responsible for technological development, said: "The involvement of experienced competitors such as Carlos Sainz and Hans-Joachim Stuck highlights the importance the Volkswagen Group attributes to Skoda's motor sport initiatives and gives valuable stimuli to the development of the new Fabia Super 2000."