ŠKODA Customer Teams Weekly 37/2017

There was a ŠKODA’s One-Two at the Kocaeli Rallisi (11-12 November), the final round of the Turkish Rally Championship, as new champion Burak Çukurova claimed his third win of the season to wrap up a successful year.

Çukurova, who was driving alongside co-driver Vedat Bostanci for the BC Vision Motorsport in a ŠKODA FABIA R5 prepared and run by Topp-Cars Rallye Team, had already clinched the Turkish title at the previous round, the Marmaris Rally, and so came into this event in relaxed mood.

And it showed as he put in a hugely dominant drive. Across eight stages and 96.3 kilometres of rallying, Çukurova finished a huge 5 minutes and 46 seconds ahead of his closest rival. He ended the season with three wins and finished on the podium in all seven rounds of the championship.

It was the Toksport WRT FABIA R5 of Uğur Soylu / Mehmet Köleoğlu who finished in second place. They were actually leading at the end of the first leg, but a flat tyre on the opening stage of the second leg cost them more than six minutes and with it a chance of the victory.

But they still managed to claim second place by a comfortable margin of 1 minute and 35 seconds from the third placed car and those points ensured they would also finish second in the overall Turkish Rally Championship standings too.

The Rally Carapeguá (10-12 November) was the eighth and final round of the Paraguayan Rally Championship and saw a remarkable five FABIA R5s finish inside the top 7 in a thrilling end to the season.

Gustavo Saba had already wrapped up the championship title at the Transchaco Rally in the previous round and he took another victory here, his fifth in the Paraguayan championship classification of the season. Driving alongside regular Argentinian co-driver Fernando Mussano for his own Saba Competición team, he finished 37.4 seconds ahead of the field.

The next FABIA R5 home was that of Miguel "Miki" Zaldivar / Edgardo Galindo. They ended up in third place overall to secure a fifth podium finish of the season. Having also won the opening round of the season, the Rally del Guairá, they ended the season in second place in the overall championship standings.

Just 10.6 seconds behind Zaldivar Sr in fourth place overall was the FABIA R5 of Didier Arias / Hector Nunes. They have had another strong season, claiming a great victory at the Transchaco Rally last month and two other podium finishes. Tiago Weiler / Diego Cagnotti finished in fifth position. They too have impressed at times this season, finishing in the top 5 on four occasions and also claiming a fine victory at the Rally del Alto Paraná, the fifth round of the championship. And last, but by no means least, was the FABIA R5 of Blas Zapag / Enrique Fratta in seventh place overall. Zapag has endured a long run of bad luck this year, and this is the first event of the year which he has managed to finish, so he will no doubt be pleased to end the season on a positive note.