Team Carsales and Škoda mount up again to tackle Australia's premier tarmac rally

Škoda Australia will return to Australian tarmac rally competition in this year's 20th Anniversary Targa Tasmania. The return to competition will see the company's unique hot-hatch-turned-wagon, the Octavia RS, compete in the important Showroom category for the first time.

The Octavia's local competition appearance continues a long tradition for the company which has competed in most forms of motorsport during its 110-year history.

Škoda Australia will partner with Australia's number one online classified company carsales.com.au to campaign the Octavia RS at Targa in April. carsales.com.au Editor-in-Chief Mike Sinclair and well-known ARC and APRC co-driver Bill Hayes will crew the RS.

Sinclair and co-driver Justin Hunt took Škoda's RS-P show vehicle to a commendable 21st place finish in Targa's outright Modern category in 2010. The RS-P was the first front-wheel drive home in the class. The only two-wheel drive production vehicles that beat it were two Porsche 911 GT3 and a Chevrolet Corvette.

For 2010 the RS-P will be optimized for Targa's Showroom category. The crew will target a podium finish.

"To finish as fastest front-wheel drive in the 2010 Pure Tasmania Modern demonstrated the potential of the RS against exotic machinery. This year we're pleased to be able to compete in the new two-wheel drive Showroom class. We'll still be up against hardcore performance cars but we're hoping to be able to reinforce the unique package the Octavia RS offers – hot hatch performance in an automatic family-sized wagon," commented Matthew Wiesner, Head of Škoda Australia.

"We're also pleased to again have carsales.com.au onboard and we're hoping to be able to kick a goal or two when we're down there – as well as spring a few surprises," he added.

Škoda is currently a frontrunner in world rallying and won both the driver and manufacturer titles in the 12-round 2010 Intercontinental Rally Challenge series. It recently announced a return to the WRC arena in partnership with Red Bull.

The 20th Anniversary Targa Tasmania will be held from April 5-10. One of the world's toughest tarmac rallies, the 2000km long event is made up of around 40 special closed road stages. This year entry numbers are expected to approach 400.