Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Jan Kopecký dominated Leg 1

26. 8. 2017 - Petr Říha, Roman Ordelt

The defending Czech champion and a five-time winner of Barum rally Jan Kopecký (Škoda Fabia R5) proves he's the biggest favourite of the 47th Barum Czech Rally Zlín. The driver of Škoda Motorsport factory team is ahead of Russian Alexey Lukyanuk (Ford Fiesta R5) by 16.6 seconds. Václav Pech (Ford Fiesta R5) holds the third place after nine special stages. After good night's sleep, the crews will take on six special stages on three sections.

The five-time winner of Barum rally and Czech Championship dominated five stages out of eight and with Friday's city special he has total of six stage victories this year. 'It was a fight today but our car works perfectly. We do have some minor issues with the front axle but otherwise we're happy with today's stages,' Kopecký said, who was only beaten three times on Leg 1. By none other than Lukyanuk. The closes gap between Kopecký and the driver of Russian Performance Motorsport team was 0.3 seconds, but then Lukyanuk made some mistake and the margin grew bigger in the afternoon. On top of that, the power steering got damaged making it difficult to catch Kopecký. 'Despite our mistakes, it was a great day,' Lukyanuk said.

French Bryan Bouffier, Ford Fiesta R5, representing the local Gemini Clinic Team, was just unlucky. He slowly worked himself up to fourth place, but a puncture cost him a place in top ten. The tenth place holds domestic driver Pavel Valoušek (Škoda Fabia R5). Even more unlucky was Vojtěch Štajf because his Škoda Fabia R5 caught fire while passing between sections.

Six Czech drivers are in the top ten. Václav Pech seems to be doing just fine holding the third place. 'It's really hard. There's a big competition, everyone is at the top of their game and I made some mistakes. Luckily, I managed to keep my speed and we're getting ready for Sunday,' Pech said.

German Marian Griebel (Škoda Fabia R5) is 22 seconds behind him. Apart from Kopecký, Pech and Valoušek there are three more drivers in the top ten. Roman Kresta is just behind Griebel, Tomáš Kostka is sixth and the eight place belongs to Jan Černý, all on Škoda Fabia R5).

Category ERC2 is led by Hungarian Tibor Érdi (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X), first place in ERC3 holds Aleks Zawada from Poland (Opel Adam R2), Czech talent Filip Mareš lost the second place due to a puncture (Peugeot 208 R2).

Final Leg 2 of the 47th Barum Czech Rally Zlín is on Sunday 27th August and comprises of six special stages on sections Maják, Pindula and Košíky of total length 95 km. The fastest crew is going receive their well-deserved trophy at 4:25 p.m. in front of the Zlín's city hall.

The 47th Barum Czech Rally Zlín is a sixth event of FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) series and likewise a sixth event of TrueCam Czech Rally Championship 2017 (MČR).

Results after Leg 1 (SS9):
1. Jan Kopecký, Pavel Dresler (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) 1:04:07.6 h
2. Alexey Lukyanuk, Alexey Arnautov (RUS, Ford Fiesta R5) + 16.6 s
3. Václav Pech, Petr Uhel (CZE, Ford Fiesta R5) + 47.5 s
4. Marijan Griebel, Stefan Kopczyk (DEU, Škoda Fabia R5) + 1:09.7 min
5. Roman Kresta, Petr Starý (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 1:13.0 min
6. Tomáš Kostka, Ladislav Kučera (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 1:14.5 min
7. Jan Černý, Petr Černohorský (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 1:20.8 min
8. Kajetan Kajetanowicz, Jaroslaw Baran (POL, Ford Fiesta R5) + 1:21.2 min
9. Martin Koči, Filip Schovánek (SVK/CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 1:46.1 min
10. Pavel Valoušek, Veronika Havelková (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 1:49.5 min

30. Aleks Zawada, Grzegorz Dachowski (POL, Opel Adam R2) + 6:57.3 min
43. Tibor Érdi, György Papp (HUN, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO X) + 9:33.6 min