Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Filip Mareš: My first Barum rally on all four

20. 8. 2018 - Evžen Gargulák

Filip Mareš continues in his great results and in gathering valuable experience. The previous two seasons went very well for him. He won twice the Czech Junior Championship, then the FWD category; he became Junior Champion in FIA ERT and came second in FIA ERC3. All this happened while he was driving a front-wheel driven car. This year he is behind the wheel of an all-wheel-drive Škoda Fabia R5 and his goal is to gain experience in the Czech champion.

However, his results are a testament to his talent, apart from one event where he finished eight, he always was in top five. And only two tenth of a second cost him a victory in rally sprint in Vyškov. He was even surprised by all of this. Mareš currently holds a second position in the classification and he hopes to keep it on Barum rally but it will not be easy since behind him are Jan Černý and Václav Pech. He says this season is about learning but his performances say otherwise. "This year being in Fabia R5 is a dream come true. Everything is new to me. It's about learning and gaining experience but to be honest, the second place is above anyone's expectations. Nevertheless, I see some mistakes in my driving that need to go away. I want to be faster and step by step we're getting there to reach car's limit," said the talented driver. Filip is very humble about his success.

Roman Kresta and his Kresta Racing Team are preparing Škoda Fabia R5 for him. Filip Mareš appreciates their professional attitude. In his opinion, their cooperation is going great and he is very happy about the atmosphere in the team, which follows him through every rally. "I'm trying to be as professional as I can, which is always a plus point when you're working with Roman Kresta. He's a legend of the Czech rally and I'm learning as much as I can. While we were on rally sprint in Kopná I saw how much people in Zlín region respect him and on Barum rally it's going to be the same. Our team works responsibly and all is well," said Mareš, the rising star of Czech rally.

The team is working very hard for Barum rally. Filip has evaluated the first part of the season after Rally Bohemia, his team did analyses and identified points on which he needs to work to get faster. They did some tests on gravel roads to get a taste of it is like and he plans to race on this type of surface. "There won't anymore test before Barum rally. Just those official ones there. I'll try to speed up, but it's going to be difficult where you're surrounded by so many great drivers. It's going to be my first Barum rally on an all-wheel drive, so it will be difficult and I don't know yet what will be our goal," said Mareš, who will be celebrating his 27th birthday right before the rally.