Škoda Motorsport has been forced to delay the release of its new Rally2 car as a result of supply chain issues.
In June, the Czech-based manufacturer unveiled its all-new Fabia RS Rally2 car to the world, and confirmed that it would be introduced to the World Rally Championship in the second half of the year.
Speaking after last weekend’s Rally Estonia, Škoda driver Andreas Mikkelsen confirmed that the initial plan had been to introduce the car at next month’s Rally Finland, but it has subsequently been delayed.
“It was supposed to come to Finland but this didn’t happen,” the WRC2 driver explained to DirtFish.
“I think there are some supply issues; I think it’s like that for most manufacturers at the moment.
“When the first rally will be, exactly, I don’t know.”
Mikkelsen won his class on Rally Estonia in a Škoda Fabia Rally2 evo, with the victory coming after two retirements in Portugal and Sardinia.
Those two non-finishes raised concerns about the current car’s reliability, but Mikkelsen reassured that those doubts were erased prior to Estonia as the team discovered the root cause of the issue.
“The team figured it out and I was confident in that. I knew I was not going to have that kind of issue this weekend. So I was not worried,” he said.
“They’re quite confident it’s coming from the air filter box because I had a new engine again in Sardinia and had dust over the car, and exactly the same happened. But they didn’t change that part.
“So there was a fault with it but now we have everything under control. It’s good to have the old, good reliable Škoda back.”
Despite being happy to have his Fabia Rally2 evo in good working order once again, Mikkelsen is still looking forward to getting his hands on the new model when it’s eventually ready.
And he believes making the switch to the new car should be pretty swift once the parts arrive.
“I think when the new car is ready we will switch. The new car is working great on tests, so we’re quite confident with that car already. As soon as it’s ready, we are ready to go.”
