Striking new 289PS Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 car revealed

Overall, the new car benefits from the production car’s longer wheelbase and wider body, which yields improvements in weight distribution. This means they’ve been able to reposition the fuel tank – which can now carry 100 per cent sustainable fuel – while extra space under the bonnet has been filled with a larger intercooler. Overall, it’s claimed the rear end is now more stable than the outgoing model. Customers will also enjoy a hardier chassis, with stiffer MacPherson struts and longer-stroke reduced-friction dampers.

Powering the Fabia RS Rally2 is a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine based on the production EA888 2.0-litre mill. It produces 289PS (214kW) and puts power to all four wheels via a five-speed sequential transmission and twin differentials.

Aerodynamically, the new Fabia RS Rally2 is a revelation. Building upon the slipperier shape of the fourth-generation Fabia, the new car develops twice the downforce of the outgoing Rally2 Evo, though it loses the active radiator louvre of the production car for regulatory reasons.

The new RS Rally2 is also far safer, exceeding FIA technical regulations, with an automatic fire suppression system, high-strength chromoly steel roll cage and a carbon, kevlar and energy-absorbing foam crash structure. It has quite the act to follow does the new Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, but it has good breeding. We await to see how its career unfolds.