Škoda Motorsport developed the Fabia R5 as a successor to the Fabia S2000 after the FIA introduced R5 regulations in 2013 to create a more accessible, customer-focused category below the top World Rally Car class. The R5 category required four-wheel drive and turbocharged engines but set strict cost and technical limits to encourage customer team participation. The Fabia R5 made its competition debut in 2015, quickly establishing itself as one of the most capable and commercially popular cars in the class. By the time the car was renamed to the Fabia Rally2 lineage, Škoda had sold over 240 units to independent teams and owners over a three-and-a-half-year period, a figure that underscored the car's commercial reach across dozens of countries.
The Fabia R5 proved immediately dominant in the WRC2 class of the World Rally Championship, which serves as the primary proving ground for R5 and Rally2 machinery. Esapekka Lappi won the 2016 WRC2 drivers' title driving the car, taking four victories during the season. Pontus Tidemand followed with the 2017 WRC2 championship, and Jan Kopecký claimed the 2018 title, giving Škoda three consecutive WRC2 drivers' championships. On the manufacturers' side, Škoda Motorsport won the FIA World Rally Championship-2 for Teams in 2015, 2016, and 2017. Between 2015 and 2018, the Fabia R5 accumulated thirty-five WRC2 victories.
Beyond the World Rally Championship, the car demonstrated its reach across regional series. In the European Rally Championship, it claimed fourteen round victories. In the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship, Gaurav Gill drove the Fabia R5 to the regional title in both 2016 and 2017, with Yuya Sumiyama adding the 2018 championship. In South American competition, Gustavo Saba won the Codasur South American Rally Championship in 2016, 2017, and 2018 using the car.
An updated version called the Škoda Fabia R5 Evo was introduced during the 2019 season, bringing refinements to the car's aerodynamics and mechanical package. Starting in 2019, Škoda Motorsport began entering the Fabia R5 in the professional WRC2 class. When the FIA revised its nomenclature in 2020, the Evo variant was formally renamed the Fabia Rally2 Evo, consolidating the car's identity within the new Rally2 framework. The Rally2 designation encompasses the same technical category as the former R5 class, and the cars are directly competitive with one another under current regulations.
From a combined competitive and commercial perspective, the Fabia R5 and its Rally2 successors represent one of the most successful cars in the history of the R5 category. Winning over 700 rally competitions around the world across all levels of competition, the car became the benchmark for customer rally programs in the mid-tier WRC support categories. Its combination of factory support, widely available spare parts, and proven performance made it the choice of well-funded privateer teams and national-level competitors alike. The three-year run of consecutive WRC2 titles cemented Škoda Motorsport's reputation as a dominant force in the customer rally market during the mid-2010s.