Horan set for boost from title-winning Skoda
Raana Horan has been one of the finds of the New Zealand Rally Championship this season and now he will have the best car in the country.
Seventh-placed Horan has agreed to buy the Skoda Fabia R5 India’s Gaurav Gil used to win last year’s Asia Pacific title and hopes to drive it in next month’s Rally Coromandel.
Having competed successfully for years as an off-road racer, Horan has adapted well to rally driving and went close to winning Rally Canterbury in June. He has demonstrated impressive speed in an older model car but will get arguably the world’s best nonWRC car in what will be a massive boost to the domestic championship.
“I decided a while ago that R5 was the better concept for me because I didn’t want to go through building a car and teething one out,” Horan told the Weekend Herald.
“New, they are quite a lot more expensive, so I wasn’t after a new one straight away and I had a look at some used ones. I talked to Neil [Allport] about his one and then the Skoda came up from the guy in Australia and they had five of them in their garage. He offered me a couple, the price was right, and so I agreed to buy one.”
The car has been used on New Zealand roads. Gill won the International Rally of Whangarei in it last year.
“It is ex-Skoda Motorsport,” Horan said. “I think they use them for about 1000km and then ship them off down here on contract to Lane at Torque Performance. Gaurav Gil used it and then Eli Evans did one rally in it and it’s been sitting there ever since.
“The plan is that I agreed to buy it. Next Thursday, it will be prepped in Sydney and then shipped the following Monday. It will get complied and hopefully I’ll get it out to do some testing before the next rally and get a new livery on it.”
Horan’s Skoda will be the second R5 to hit New Zealand. Last year, three-time national champion Allport bought a Ford Fiesta and that has made a handful of appearances in the national championship with a couple of drivers. It is understood another domestic driver is seriously considering buying one of the Skoda R5s.