Kopecky leads Skoda 1-2-3 finish

The Czech driver led an all-Skoda top three, ahead of his team-mate Juho Hanninen, and Skoda UK's Guy Wilks.

The Fabias had hit the front when Kris Meeke picked up a puncture on Friday evening and fell to sixth. The Peugeot UK driver had been pulling away at the time, having escaped from an early battle with the Skodas and started dominating the second half of the first leg.

Meeke's delay left Kopecky and Hanninen to run in one-two formation through the final day, with Hanninen soon realising his team-mate could not be caught, but still delighted to take second and extend his championship lead on his less favoured asphalt surface.

Wilks lost touch with the leaders while struggling to find a suitable set-up early on Friday, and had a quiet run to third thereafter.

The main battle in the closing stages was the recovering Meeke's pursuit of Bruno Magalhaes (Peugeot Portugal) for fourth. Three straight stage wins brought Meeke onto Magalhaes' tail, but he still required the Portuguese driver to lose time on the final stage in order to pick up the place.

Alberto Hevia completed the top six, while Meeke's new Kronos stable-mate Thierry Neuville was heading for a strong seventh place, despite a Friday puncture, until he went off and damaged his suspension on the penultimate stage.

Pos  Driver           Car           Time/Gap
 1.  Jan Kopecky      Skoda       2h12m27.4s
 2.  Juho Hanninen    Skoda           + 9.1s
 3.  Guy Wilks        Skoda          + 36.4s
 4.  Kris Meeke       Peugeot      + 1m05.5s
 5.  Bruno Magalhaes  Peugeot      + 1m17.8s
 6.  Alberto Hevia    Skoda        + 1m25.1s
 7.  Ruben Gracia     Mitsubishi  + 10m06.5s
 8.  Sergio Vallejo   Ford        + 12m49.7s
 9.  Jose Barrios     Subaru      + 13m12.8s
10.  Yeray Lemes      Ford        + 14m12.4s