Croatia ERC: Jan Kopecky seals European Rally Championship title

The works Skoda driver has dominated much of the season and just needed a handful of points from Croatia to officially become the first champion of the revitalised ERC's new era.

He quickly moved to the head of the field on Friday's second loop as dry conditions left shock early leader Andreas Aigner's Production Subaru way off the pace of the Super 2000 cars.

Although Aigner remains second, he is now 52.9 seconds behind Kopecky.

Fellow Production runner Herrmann Gassner Jr has closed in on Aigner, ending the day six seconds behind.

Kopecky's ERC title comes after four successive runner-up finishes in the championship's Intercontinental Rally Challenge predecessor.

The Czech driver is unsure whether he will be entered for the remaining 2013 ERC rounds in Sanremo and Valais.

Leading positions after SS7:

Pos  Driver               Team/Car             Time/Gap
 1.  Jan Kopecky          Skoda              1h11m32.5s
 2.  Andreas Aigner       Stohl Subaru           +52.9s
 3.  Herrmann Gassner Jr  Gassner Mitubishi      +58.1s
 4.  Tsjoen/Casier        Duindistel Skoda     +2m16.1s
 5.  Juraj Sebalj         AKK Skoda            +2m28.0s
 6.  Henk Lategan         BRR Skoda            +2m42.8s
 7.  Aleks Humar          SEC Renault          +3m23.4s
 8.  Andras Hadik         Xiqio Subaru         +3m39.1s
 9.  Daniel Saskin        AK Ford              +4m09.3s
10.  Herrmann Gassner Sr  Gassner Mitubishi    +4m48.2s