When the Octavia Took on the World's Best
Join us in looking back to the turn of the millennium, when Škoda Motorsport unveiled the Octavia WRC special – the car it raced in the elite category of the World Rally Championship. As part of a series marking 125 years of involvement in motorsport, former drivers Armin Schwarz and Roman Kresta have shared their memories of this car.
Motorsport
Armin Schwarz, Roman Kresta
Joining the Absolute Elite
At the turn of the millennium, Škoda Auto entered the top category of the World Rally Championship. The Octavia WRC special was driven mainly by German driver Armin Schwarz, with Roman Kresta also taking part in some rallies.
The Škoda Octavia WRC made its first appearance in world rallying in Monte Carlo in 1999, and the Škoda Motorsport team chose Armin Schwarz for his feel for technical matters. The German driver went on to provide significant help to the carmaker in developing the car. "The Škoda Motorsport director at the time, Pavel Janeba, called me and asked if I would like to come to England to test the first Škoda Octavia WRC. As I've always been interested in the technical side of things, I wanted to find out what the car could do," recalls Armin Schwarz.
On the stage in Kenya stood Armin Schwarz alongside Finnish drivers Tommi Mäkinen and Harri Rovenperä.
Roman Kresta was only at the beginning of his career at that time. "In the 2000 season, I got the chance to race for the Škoda Motorsport factory team in the Czech championship. It was my first four-wheel-drive car, and I won the title with it that very season," recalls Kresta, remembering his beginnings with the Octavia WRC special. He learned a great deal from his colleague Armin Schwarz and honed his technique during the car's development testing. According to Kresta, the car improved by leaps and bounds. Thanks to this, the special was also successful in the World Rally Championship series. Particularly legendary is Schwarz's third place at the Safari Rally Kenya in the 2001 season. "The car worked best in demanding rallies. So we chose a fast pace from the start and relied on our rivals' mistakes," the medallist describes the performance. Today, however, he values another result more highly: fourth place at the Monte Carlo Rally that same year. "We had perhaps the worst possible changeable conditions, and we missed out on the podium by just a few seconds," recalls the driver, for whom the 2001 season with the Octavia WRC special was his last.
Among the unforgettable moments is also R. Kresta's crash in Monte Carlo in 2002, when his car was left hanging over a precipice. "That's not one I'd frame on the wall," the driver still admits today. Both men then returned to the top WRC class in the 2004 season with the Fabia WRC special. But that's a different story.
Roman Kresta
He grew up in the Zlín region, where motorsport has a strong tradition, and trained as a car mechanic. He is still involved in preparing cars for drivers today. He raced the factory-built Octavia WRC in the Czech championship and won the title in his very first season, 2000. He repeated this success a year later, when he also entered WRC events.
Armin Schwarz
In the late 1990s, he joined Škoda Motorsport already as a rally veteran, boasting two German titles and five podium finishes in the World Championship. Thanks to his feel for technology, he was considered one of the most valuable development and test drivers.
5
The Škoda Motorsport factory team deployed the Škoda Octavia WRC model across five seasons. Since its first start in 1999, the car underwent intensive development. As the then factory driver Armin Schwarz says, "by the end of the development, it was quite a different car." The Škoda Octavia WRC model came to an end in the middle of the 2003 season with the arrival of the Fabia WRC special.
3rd
Third place was the biggest success of the Škoda Octavia WRC in the World Rally Championship. It was achieved by Armin Schwarz at the notorious Safari Rally Kenya in the 2001 season. That season, the driver collected nine points and finished twelfth overall in a strong field of competitors.
221 kW
The Škoda Octavia WRC was powered by the usual two-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine of the time, delivering 221 kW at 3,250 rpm. Later engine evolutions achieved torque of up to 600 Nm. An interesting feature was the five-valve design. The turbocharger was custom-built by Garrett.
Interviews
Armin Schwarz
How did you get into motorsport in the first place?
It was passion that led me there. Motorsport attracted me from a young age, and once I got a taste of it, I did everything I could to follow this path. I started with motorcycles, then worked at a car dealership, where I helped prepare rally cars. That influenced the rest of my life. I've always liked the technical side of cars, and there I could develop it in practice.
How did you get into the Škoda Motorsport factory team?
When I competed in the German championship, Josef Juračka worked for me as a mechanic. With him, I won the championship with the Audi Quattro and then with the Audi 200. He was also my mechanic later on in the world championship. Then came the Velvet Revolution, the borders opened, and he returned to Czechia to be with his family. There, he started working with the team from Mladá Boleslav. When development of the Octavia WRC special began there, they knew exactly who to approach thanks to him. Pavel Janeba called me and offered me the chance to test the first prototype. I couldn't refuse that. And then we started talking about other possible forms of cooperation.
How did it work in the team back then?
It was a small and still fairly family-like team, but one that became more professional very quickly. Even so, the homely atmosphere remained. Car development changed a lot over those few seasons. We started with a range of parts from suppliers, but gradually tried to do as much as possible ourselves. We were all constantly learning something new, whether about how the car worked, the lifespan of parts, or logistics.
How did you find driving the Škoda Octavia WRC?
I found it very easy to drive. People say it was big, but at that time there were other similarly designed cars in rallying too. One advantage of a longer car was that it didn't need a large rear wing, which gave us an edge in top speed in some places. It was a tough and stable car that performed best in demanding conditions.
And how would you rate the car's achievements?
The car was competitive, as shown by some of our good results, such as third place at the Safari Rally Kenya in 2001 and fourth place at the Monte Carlo Rally that same season. By then, the car was reliable, and we could collect points. I think it was a great era, one that Škoda Auto still benefits from today. Just look at how the popularity of the production RS models grew, partly thanks to the Škoda Octavia WRC. The Škoda Motorsport team also learned a great deal at the time, which can be seen in today's Fabia Rally2 category cars, which are unbeatable in many respects.
Roman Kresta
What was your journey to rallying?
It runs in the family – both my father and my uncle were involved in motorsport. I come from a place where there were a lot of drivers, so I was drawn to it from an early age. I was soon sitting behind the wheel myself, too. Already at the age of ten, I was allowed to drive down the hill with my grandad to church, without the engine running. On the way back, over the 3.5 kilometres, I was allowed to shift up to third gear. (laughs)
What was the road to the factory team like?
In 1994, I drove my first race as a private entrant with a Favorit. By 1999, I had already won the F2 class, that is, two-litre cars with one driven axle. At that time, we were racing quite closely in this category with Jarda Starý, who drove an Octavia with a certain amount of factory support. That's how they noticed me, and for the 2000 season I joined as a factory driver with the Octavia WRC special.
That must have been something, a top-spec WRC car with factory support competing in the Czech championship...
It was. I was lucky that I was always around the car and could set up and adjust a lot of things myself for the Czech championship, so I knew the technology and how it worked well. What's more, it was clearly the fastest car in the championship.
And how did the car drive?
It worked really well for me. I spent a lot of time in it during various trials and tests, where I could also try out other details. But even at the beginning, when I didn't have much experience, the car was great to drive because it was easy to handle.
How did you work with Armin Schwarz in the factory team?
He was the star, I was the young lad. He set the direction, while I did things like clocking up the necessary kilometres for routine tests. Still, I learnt a huge amount alongside him. It was a great learning experience. I will never forget the time when Armin first took me for a ride in the Škoda Octavia WRC in Bělá pod Bezdězem. When I got out of the car, I thought I would never be able to do something like that. We were sideways the whole time! Coming from two-wheelers, I was used to the idea that if you are sliding, you are in trouble. Here, it was the opposite.
You also have subsequent experience from other factory teams. How does that compare with Škoda Motorsport?
The team was already top-level at that time, fully comparable with others. Logistics, preparation, facilities – all of that was excellent. It's just a bit unfortunate that the development curve of the Škoda Octavia WRC special did not align with the trends of the time. When it ended, it was at its peak and had more to offer, but by then shorter and nimbler rival cars were already gaining the upper hand.