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Skoda hints at what's to come from Volkswagen with S2000 WRC title

To the outsider, it would be all too easy to forget that the FIA World Rally Championship has more than one class. Just like Le Mans endurance racing has various LMP and GT racing categories, and NASCAR has the Sprint Cup, Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series, so too does the WRC have more than one tier. So while the Sebastien Loeb and the Citroën World Rally Team were locking up their seventh title in the top tier of the championship, Skoda took its first title in the Super 2000 category as its Finnish crew Juho Hänninen and Mikko Markkula won took a class win and 10th overall in the RACC Rally of Spain this past weekend.
So what, who cares, you ask? Well you'd be forgiven for dismissing an overseas automaker (whose products we don't even get here) winning a second-tier rally series that doesn't come here, either. (Mexico's the closest stage on this year's calendar.) But we'll tell you why it matters: Skoda's sister (or parent) company Volkswagen is entering the top-tier WRC next season with the new Polo R. And while VW has enjoyed much success in rally-raid events like Dakar, the WRC is an entirely different beast.
In order to prepare for its assault on the most world's foremost rally series, Volkswagen has been looking to Skoda's program to test out everything from machinery to personnel. And given that Skoda - whose motorsport division celebrates its 110th anniversary this year - has come out on top, we could be looking at a very serious contender from Wolfsburg for next year's championship.

Volkswagen Group names Paefgen head of classics program

You may remember the name Franz-Josef Paefgen. Until recently, the German engineer and executive was head of both Bentley and Bugatti. Before that he was chief executive of Audi, after working for several years at Ford. He technically "retired" earlier this year, but like the cars he helped create, an executive like Paefgen could never really retire. So it should come as little surprise that the Volkswagen Group has named Dr. Paefgen head of its Classic program.
In his new capacity, Paefgen will oversee the historic automobile activities of the entire VW Group, including those of Volkswagen, Seat, Skoda, Audi, Lamborghini, and of course Bentley and Bugatti. It strikes us as a suitable semi-retirement for the man responsible in no small part for the Bugatti Veyron and Bentley Mulsanne, to name just two, and who was decorated in 2006 by the ACO as the "Spirit of Le Mans" for his contribution to endurance racing. Read the official announcement after the break.

Skoda reveals new Rapid

Just a couple of days after images of its sister car, the Seat Toledo, leaked onto the Internet, the Škoda Rapid gets an official unveiling. As expected, it is a 99.5-percent facsimile of the Škoda MissionL "concept" revealed at last year's Frankfurt Motor Show.
Given plenty of creases and sculpting, the Rapid is a sign of Škoda designs to come, which the brand calls "clear, precise, fresh, timeless and elegant." To our eyes it certainly isn't a bad way to keep an erstwhile Volkswagen Jetta fresh.
As with the Toledo, the price-value equation will be the Rapid's unique selling proposition for those not smitten with its looks, yet being a VW product it still won't skimp on engines: seven will be offered, five gas-powered and two diesels. Slotted between the Fabia and higher-end Octavia, the Rapid's brand new looks should help it make a name for itself among family types.