Jan Kopecký is a familiar face at Škoda. In 2004 he contested the Catalunya Rally in an official team car and was taking part in the summer series of test and development events when he won a hard-fought Bohemia Rally.

Throughout the 2004 season he also campaigned a factory supported Fabia WRC at home in the Czech Republic where he ended the season as Czech Rally Champion for the first time. A run of four consecutive victories in the second half of the season secured the title at the final round.

Jan has a long-standing background in motorsport. Both his father and grandfather were successful racing drivers. His own motorsport career began at the age of 11 when he first sat in a go-kart. He graduated to cars and in 2000 won the Czech rallysprint championship, followed by the racing Octavia Cup in 2001.

He made the full switch to rallying in 2002 and since then has contested in many WRC events with different cars up to last year’s Catalunya Rally.

In 2006, Skoda is represented by two private entities. The Red Bull Skoda Team and the Czech Replublic Skoda Team. Jan will drive for this second team and should be at the start of around ten European rounds of the World Championship.