Kopecky: I didn't expect to jump there!

Skoda privateer, Jan Kopecky finished the Rally Finland prematurely on Sunday, when he went off the road in the first test of the day and slammed the front end of his Fabia WRC into a stack of logs.

Speaking about the incident, which occurred in the 10.38 kilometre Ruunimaki test, Kopecky conceded that the reason for the off was because they were going too fast and that they didn't expect his Fabia to 'jump'.

Kopecky had been pushing hard trying to make up time after being hindered by tyre defects on day 1. Indeed on Saturday he had climbed up from 17th overall to tenth, posting seven top ten stages times, including three sixth fastest times.

"We started the Sunday leg with intention to attack. Rallying is very unpredictable though and in the hard Rally Finland any crew in the top eight point receiving places could encounter a problem. This is why we wanted to come as close as possible to the eight place," he explained.

"Our optimism was supported by Saturday's times, where we were able to run times among the best. On one of the horizons in the beginning of SS21 though, we had an error in the track breakdown. In the introductory rides we did not expect that we could jump on this horizon.

"We came into a right handed turn over the track and I did not have control over the car. I instantly reacted, but we nonetheless fell into a deep ditch and hit a stack of logs with our car's front end. I regret the withdrawal especially for all the members of the Czech Rally Team-Kopecky, who in the preparation for this rally, as well as in the service zones of Rally Finland, turned in a great performance."

Czech Rally Team Kopecky boss, Josef Kopeck? meanwhile was disappointed but felt that big problem was Friday, when tyre defects cost them too much time.

"After an unlucky Friday's leg we understandably felt joy from our excellent times on Saturday. In Sunday's leg we decided to attack, because Jan and Filip [Schovanek - his co-driver] showed us a truly fantastic run on Saturday," he added. "This time our plan did not work and we can evaluate only Saturday's leg as a success.

"Unfortunately our outing in Rally Finland was quite notably influenced by Friday's tyre defects, which caused Jan and Filip to have to fight their way from the back and drive on the edge."