Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Tarabus&Trunkát in Ireland: Banbridge ill-fated for the second time

12. 4. 2016 - Aleš Holakovský

On Saturday afternoon, Jaromír Tarabus and Daniel Trunkát must have had a sense of déjà vu at the track of Circuit of Ireland when their Škoda Fabia R5 got stuck in the hedge bordering the Banbridge special stage track again. While last year the crew was "only" prevented from a better result, they had to pay much more this year, namely to withdraw from the competition after having reached the overall fifth place, and during the last stage in addition.

"It was only our second competition with Fabia R5 while the first one being the last year Barum Rally. We had not been sitting in the racing car for half a year before the pre-start test, so we did not know what to expect from ourselves or from the car. But the more we looked forward to the competition. Especially the thirty-kilometre stage The Glens was a big challenge thanks to lots of blind horizons and jumps," describes Jaromír Tarabus their starting position at the first competition of this year.

"We managed to keep a very good pace in the competition. Mainly the second section of the first leg came up well, when during one stage we managed to do nearly the same time as the leading crews Breen-Martin and Kajetanowicz-Baran. The fact that our team Kresta Racing had managed to set our car for the wet conditions very well made a big contribution," were Jaromír and Daniel satisfied with the course of the first leg when going to bed on the nice fifth place in such difficult competition. Small time distances before and after them, however, anticipated the necessity to continue in the maximum pace even in the second leg.

"The second leg was affected by the effort to keep the fifth place and push the competitor in front of us at the same time. We were not too successful in the morning, but in the afternoon, we managed to do the overall second time right after "Kajto" during the Hamiltons Folly 2 stage. Even though the conditions were very difficult there, we met dry, damp as well as wet conditions on the track and even hail in the end," describes Jaromír Tarabus their successful ride under sometimes even extreme conditions. But then the ill-fated last super stage Banbridge 2 was still ahead.

"Before the last stage we were losing only five seconds to the fourth place, and we wanted to attack it, so we rode at maximum from the beginning. Three kilometres from the start in a difficult passage, I failed a change in the pacenotes and than was late in the dictation. That resulted in our getting off the track in the following left three into the right six where we were stopped by the hedge. Contrary to last year, there were no thirty spectators able to get us back to the track. So, while last year the same accident on the same stage Banbridge deprived us "only" from that fifth place, we lost the whole competition this year. I am sorry I managed to spoil the whole competition as well as the effort of our team," claims his responsibility for the withdrawal Daniel Trunkát. Thanks to the previous course of the competition, however, he continues in a more optimistic way. "We verified that thanks to the Fabia R5 quality in combination with setting by Roman Kresta, we can run with the head, and a small loss on one kilometre for the close leaders of the European Rally Championship is more than promising for the following competitions. So we can do nothing but bring our pace over to gravel as well, and strive to fight at Rally Acropolis for at least the same result as here in Ireland. Finally, I would like to add that the organizers prepared a fantastic competition when they showed us the most beautiful places of the Northern Ireland. We must award the competition with grade A with many stars for organization and for the support of local administrations."