Wagner bests Škoda crews on their home event

Austrian i20 N Rally2 driver Simon Wagner scored overall victory at Rally Bohemia in the Czech Rally Championship. The Austrian driver and Hanna Östlender, his German co-driver, were one of the strongest crews on the tarmac event. They won five stages – the most of any crew on the rally – and led for large portions of the event, including all of the second and final day of the contest.

The victory was made even sweeter as it came on the home event for Škoda. Wagner and Östlender’s win was only the second time since 2008 that a non-Škoda crew had won the event overall, and the first time Škoda teams had been bested in class during the same period.

Wagner and Östlender won by nearly 30 seconds. It was their second win in the Czech championship this year—after Rallye Šumava Klatovy—and the duo have already claimed three victories in the Austrian championship.

The result was the latest illustration of the performance potential of the i20 N Rally2 Step2 package. Homologated for the start of the 2025 season, the Step2 package represents the largest single collection of upgrades for the i20 N Rally2 since its introduction in 2021. The updates largely focused on improving the car’s performance on tarmac stages. Our customers’ recent results in France – Eric Camilli won Rallye Rouergue – Occitanie – and Belgium, where Hayden Paddon finished second on his first Ypres Rally start in 12 years, as well as Wagner’s performances this year, have clearly shown the step forward in performance delivered by the package.

“Our customers’ recent results have shown the true potential of the updates we delivered with the introduction of the Hyundai i20 N Rally2 Step2 package,”  said Hyundai Motorsport Customer Racing Manager, Benoit Nogier. “The victories for Eric Camilli in France and Simon Wagner at Rally Bohemia show the performance of the car on tarmac stages. Both championships are incredibly competitive – our customers racing against well-supported crews representing other manufacturers in the Rally2 category – so the victories have been hard fought and clearly show the performance of the i20 N Rally2 Step2 package on the tarmac stages, which were the focus of our tests and the updates we homologated.”