Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Flash info after 9th stage

28. 8. 2016 - Jakub Kudláč, Karolína Lečbychová

Crews came back to the Service Park in the premises of Continental Barum s.r.o. We asked the top drivers of the 46^th Barum Czech Rally Zlín about the end of Leg 1 and their plans for tomorrow.

Łukasz Habaj (POL, Ford Fiesta R5, starting no. 9):
'On the last stage we lost power steering, it's not a good day for us. And also I couldn't concentrate. But we gained some experience. In service we'll repair the steering and I'd quite like a massage, my hands are aching.'

Alexey Lukyanuk (RUS, Ford Fiesta R5, starting no. 4):
'It's amazing that we were able to close the gap between us and Kopecký. We're really happy with it. We're taking risks, we'll push tomorrow but Kopecký knows these roads very well.'

Jan Kopecký (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5, starting no. 2):
'It's going to be a fight between me and Alexey. I'm really looking forward to tomorrow.'

Ralfs Sirmacis (LVA, Škoda Fabia R5, starting no. 6):
'I broke some things today. It's really hard rally and there are strong competitors. I don't know how Kopecký does it. I'm doing my best. Tomorrow we'll try to be fast.'

Tomáš Kostka (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5, starting no. 16):
'My goal is to finish, so no stress but the car has definitely more potential.'

Jaromír Tarabus (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5, starting no. 5):
'I was finding myself for half of a day. We were really enjoying Semetín. Its end is unbelievable. We're fighting for the fifth place and that's great.'

Roman Odložilík (CZE, Ford Fiesta R5, starting no. 12):
'I probably won't be able to sleep. I'm ashamed of my performance. After malfunctioning brakes we got a 10-minute penalty. I'm depressed, my driving is horrible. Plus I forget lights. My aim is to get back the feeling of being a driver.'

Fabian Kreim (DEU, Škoda Fabia R5, starting no. 11):
'It's really demanding. We gained some experience. It's not so bad since it's our first time here. We did some small mistakes. These roads are very different from other in Europe, but it's fun. We won't change much for tomorrow.'

Dávid Botka (HUN, Citroën DS3 R5, starting no. 14):
'On Hošťálková we slipped of the road in about 160 km/h on the field, we went about 300 m away from road. It's unbelievable. It's going to be a great moment of the season and the video too.'

Jan Černý (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5, starting no. 10):
'It's going to be more difficult tomorrow. I feel bad that on the last stage the brakes were overheated and we lost some time.'

Pavel Valoušek (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5, starting no. 7):
'There was a rock right on the track and we couldn't avoid it, so we got a puncture. We lost a chance for a good result and there was a time when we thought we give up. We managed to overcome that and we go on.'

Cédric Cherain (BEL, Ford Fiesta R5, starting no. 19):
'So far it's good. We'll see tomorrow.'

Martin Vlček (CZE, Ford Fiesta R5, starting no. 17):
'We finished and that counts. It was very difficult today and I'm terrified of tomorrow. It's very fast.'

Antonín Tlusťák (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5, starting no. 18):
'We could be taking a better position, but the rally is quite fast. No mistakes today, hopefully tomorrow will be just as good.'

Bryan Bouffier (FRA, Citroën DS3 R5, starting no. 3):
'Since we're in the back, we get the dirty roads and the last one was in dark. In these conditions it is not possible to follow the guys in front but we must be happy.'

Tomáš Růžička (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5, starting no. 15)
'The last section was difficult, it was very muddy. I wasn't sure about any track. Maybe I was too careful, we're not as fast as we'd like to be.'

Murat Bostanci (TUR, Ford Fiesta R2T, starting no. 24)
'It was quite tricky. It's my first time here and I'm trying to go mistake-free, but still we did some small mistakes. I'm trying to get used to these road, there're very different.'

Christopher Ingram (GBR, Opel Adam R2, starting no. 25)
'It has been amazing day for us, we're in the lead in junior. Last year I had a huge crash here, so it's great to be back. We just trying to get to finish.

Luca Rosetti (ITA, Toyota GT86 CS-R3, starting no. 23)
'It was really good for us. On the first loop we were learning and the second one pushing. We had some problems with intercom and also lost some time. But generally I'm happy and enjoying the car.'

Dominik Brož (CZE, Ford Fiesta R2, starting no. 31)
'The stages are difficult, so we're happy about the result, but in the morning we had some problems in the cockpit.'