This is the latest rally-spec Skoda Fabia

Ask someone to reel off a list of the most successful rally cars of all time and they’ll probably name things like the Lancia Delta Integrale, the Subaru Impreza, the Toyota Celica and any of the Citroens driven by Messrs Loeb and Ogier.

They probably won’t mention the Skoda Fabia, and yet the little Czech hatch has been an absolute sensation in the rallying world. In fact, the Fabia Rally2 and Rally2 evo won twelve world titles between 2015 and 2022, with over 1,700 outright rally victories in the process. 

This new Fabia RS Rally2 is rather big news then, and doesn’t it look brilliant? Based on the latest fourth-gen Fabia road car, the RS gets wide arches, wings and plenty of downforce – double that of its predecessor. You might recognise the retina-burning paint too, that’s Skoda’s new Hyper Green motorsport colour that we saw recently on the all-electric Enyaq Coupe iV vRS. 

This isn’t just a reskinned Rally2 evo though. There’s actually a whole new engine based on the VW Group’s 2.0-litre EA888 four-cylinder turbo, although Rally2 regs mean that here it has been shrunk to a 1.6-litre unit that’s making 285bhp and 317lb ft of torque. Should still suffice. That’s connected to a five-speed sequential gearbox and super short-gearing means it’ll top out at 124mph. There’s four-wheel drive too, with mechanical differentials on the front and rear axles and no electronic traction aids. 

Skoda’s motorsport team will offer two different braking systems to customer teams, one for tarmac and one for gravel rallying, and the Fabia RS should be safer than the previous car thanks to the 35.8 metres of steel tubing used for the roll cage and a strongly protected and repositioned fuel tank. 

The longer wheelbase of the latest Fabia means that the suspension has been completely overhauled and we’re assured that a larger main display inside “allows for intuitive operation during a rally” – hopefully drivers won’t need to delve into twelve different menus just to change the climate control. Might be quite tricky that. 

Skoda Motorsport says it has been testing the RS Rally2 in the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Croatia, Germany, Belgium, Spain and northern Finland since the summer of 2021 and it’ll be ready to make its debut soon.

Reckon Skoda should make a homologation special road car like the GR Yaris?