Michal Hrabánek: “My grandfather worked for Skoda, so did my father”

Aside from Skoda, what is your first automobile memory?

I come from Mladá Boleslav, where the nerve center of my country's automobile industry is located. My grandfather worked for Skoda, my father too. The latter was part of the department which managed the development of new models. At that time there was no simulator or software. Everything was done on the roads and my dad often came home with special cars, prototypes.

Was he interested in motorsport?

Yes, he liked it. In his youth, my father even took part in a few rallies. He also took me to races and we witnessed the debut of the Skoda 200 RS in 1974. It is certain that this childhood played an important role in my professional direction.

Could you have taken another route?

It would have been possible, but my ambition was to join the development department which included the sports branch. I followed a mechanical engineering course and my wish was to reach the position of tester, like my father. To my great disappointment, this was not possible at first, but in hindsight it was very positive, because it came when Skoda became part of Volkswagen. I joined Skoda in 1992, and the following year I was sent to Wolfsburg (