Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Kopecký won all the Special Stages on Saturday and he is ahead of Pech

29. 8. 2015 - Petr Říha

The Czech driver Jan Kopecký is showing his excellent driving skills at the 45th Barum Czech Rally Zlín. The three times winner of Barum Rally, which is a part of FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) and Czech Rally Championship 2015 (MČR), won all eight Special Stages and on Sunday he wants to make sure that the defending champion of Barum Rally Václav Pech will not surpass him. Pech is 35.3 seconds behind. The Polish driver and the ERC leader Kajetan Kajetanowicz is occupying the third position.

The Czech Škoda Motorsport factory driver Jan Kopecký (Škoda Fabia R5) moved to the first position after SS Slušovice and through Leg 1 he was gaining precious seconds on Václav Pech (Mini John Cooper Works S2000). "We are very happy, because we are increasing our lead in the most difficult competition in our country. Our car's performance is excellent in spite of hitting a hole on the road. We did not even experience such hard hit during the qualification."

The defending Czech champion Václav Pech did win the Friday's attractive Super Special Stage but he could not keep up with Kopecký in Leg 1. On Sunday he has to do his best to close the gap. "I thought we would be closer but are not giving up just yet. One mistake can make the difference. We will be right behind him, we will increase the pressure," said Pech.

Many front runner drivers had to say goodbye to Barum Rally. In the morning, it was French Robert Consani (Citroën DS3 R5) and Roman Odložilík (Ford Fiesta R5) who had to retire due to accident. Consani's accident in particular look pretty nasty but the crew has not been injured. The Czech drivers Jaromír Tarabus and Tomáš Kostka (both Škoda Fabia R5) were forced to retire due to technical problems. Therefore, Kostka lost his chance to repeat last year's great performance which led to the bronze medal.

There are now six Czech drivers in the top ten at Barum Rally. Besides Kopecký and Pech, Pavel Valoušek (Škoda Fabia S2000) is on the fifth position behind him is Miroslav Jakeš (Citroën DS3 R5) followed by Jan Černý (Škoda Fabia S2000) and the top ten is closed by Antonín Tlusťák (Škoda Fabia S2000).

Irish pilot Craig Breen (Peugeot 208 T16) who is aiming at the European Rally Championship title had a truly bad day on Saturday. The second man of ERC had three punctures. But it was the second one in the fifth Special Stage at Kudlovice that hurts the most. Breen has lost almost two and half minute to Polish Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Ford Fiesta R5) who is leading ERC by 5 points after six completed events. Breen is currently on the eleventh position.

The fourth SS had to be prematurely closed due to Raul Jeets's accident (Ford Fiesta R5). The Estonian driver crashed into a house in a village Oldřichovice. Because of a gas leak the organizers decided to cancel this stage and the rest of the starting field took a detour.

The production car category is led by Dávid Botka from Hungary (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX) and more than one minute behind him is Martin Březík (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX) who is ahead of Vojtěch Štajf (Subaru Impreza STi) by 3 minutes.

Swedish Emil Bergkvist took the lead in the two-wheel-drive category. German Marijan Griebel (both Opel Adam R2) is trying to catch him. The best Czech driver in this category Ondřej Bisaha (Citroën DS3 R3T) is on the fifth place. Polish Aleks Zawada (Opel Adam R2) holds the third position in junior championship which is dominated by Bergkvist.

Final Leg 2 starts on Sunday 30th August and the drivers have to pass six tests on three sections called Semetín, Troják and Žlutava of total length 87 kilometers. The fastest crew will be awarded on Sunday at 4 pm in front of the City Hall Zlín.

Unofficial results after Leg 1 (SS9):
1. Kopecký, Dresler (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) 1:21:30.2 h.
2. Pech, Uhel (CZE, Mini John Copper Works S2000) + 35.3 s
3. Kajetanowicz, Baran (POL, Ford Fiesta R5) + 58.1 s
4. Lukyanuk, Arnautov (BLR/RUS, Ford Fiesta R5) + 1:30.3 min
5. Valoušek, Havelková (CZE, Škoda Fabia S2000) + 2:06.2 min
6. Jakeš, J. Novák (CZE, Citroën DS3 R5) + 2:56.3 min
7. Černý, Černohorský (CZE, Škoda Fabia S2000) + 3:04.7 min
8. Martin, Salva (FRA, Peugeot 208 T16) + 3:20.7 min
9. Kobus, de Wild (NLD, Škoda Fabia R5) + 3:22.1 min
10. Tlusťák, Kučera (CZE, Škoda Fabia S2000) + 4:14.9 min

Won SS: 8 – Kopecký, 1 – Pech.