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The young Skoda works team goes for secure points rather than risk-taking in its second year with the Octavia WRC. Armin finishes six rallies out of seven WRC starts. Fifth at the Acropolis Rally (with high fever) as well as seventh at Monte Carlo and Kenya. Time and again defects like a loose charge-air hose prevent him from claiming better results. In small development steps Armin and his technicians bring the car foreward. The weight is reduced to the limit of 1240 kgs, the gap to the front-runners is halved to around a second per kilometre compared to the previous season. The Catalunya Rally sees Armin secure his first best time in the WRC with the Octavia. The shocks and the poor top-end power however are still a problem. At the end of the year Schwarz wins the Semperit Rally in Austria ahead of his friend and ice-note driver Franz Wittmann. Armin also enjoys success at the Race of Champions, winning the Michelin Rally Masters.
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