Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

A total of 136 crews pick up the itinerary, Lukyanuk will not start

27. 8. 2021 - Roman Ordelt

The secretariat of the 50th Barum Czech Rally Zlín, led by long-time leader Marta Regnerová, experienced the load test on Wednesday. In the elite competition included in the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) and SONAX Czech Rally Championship 2021 (MCR), a total of 136 crews from 21 countries from the original 146 entries entered the organizers by Wednesday evening. A number of leading crews already appeared at Wednesday's evening autograph session in the Golden Apple Shopping Center in Zlín, where more than a thousand rally sport fans came for signatures. The front-runners of this year's jubilee Barum rally include the eight-time winner of the Zlín rally, the defender of last year's championship Jan Kopecký from the Czech Republic, Norwegian driver Andreas Mikkelsen (both Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) and Jari Huttunen from Finland (Hyundai i20 R5).

A total of ten crews apologized to the Zlín organizers. After 28 long years, the crew with starting number 1 will be missing from the starting field. The leading driver of the European Championship Alexey Lukyanuk from Russia significantly damaged the Citroën C3 Rally2 in the Wednesday pre-event test and will not appear at the start. The Italian pilot Umberto Scandola (Hyundai i20 R5) did not come to Zlín for health reasons. Before the start, Robert Adolf (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) crashed the car on the test, and Jaroslav Koltun from Poland (Ford Fiesta Rally2) also apologized to the organizers. "The Czech crew with start number 126 Adam Kruťa and Jiří Haferník in the Škoda Felicia was the first to present in the secretariat. Thanks to the system, all crews gradually completed the administrative checks related to issuing of itineraries. The biggest strain was in the afternoon after the end of the test session. At one point, we also had four crews at the formal inspection at the same time," said Marta Regnerová, head of the Barum Czech Rally Zlín secretariat. Rally sport fans will enjoy the fact that 32 Rally2 (R5) cars will appear at the start.

The crews started reconnaissance on the special stages on Thursday morning. The Březová, Biskupice, Pindula, Hošťálková, Májová, Super SS and qualifying test / shakedown in Malenovice were the first to come. On Friday, the Halenkovice and Komárov stages are planned. The 50th Barum Czech Rally Zlín starts on Friday 27 August at 5 p.m. in the square in front of the Zlín City Hall, the three-day rally ends on the finish ramp at the same place on Sunday 29 August shortly after 5 p.m. This year's Barum rally measures a total of 785.68 km and contains 15 special stages on 8 sections with a total length of 210.92 km. The prelude to the rally itself will be a qualifying SS / shakedown in the length of 4.07 km at the section Malenovice - Salaš, which is planned on Friday morning.

In the list of entrants there were several changes and clarifications regarding co-drivers, but also drivers. Number 17 had a change of the pilot – instead of Roman Odložilík will be Martin Koči from Slovakia behind the wheel of the Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo. Ondřej Bisaha (start number 23) specified his co-driver to Karel Voltner. Also Věroslav Cvrček changes his co-driver – Tomáš Prokorát is replaced by Ondřej Šálek.

In the Czech Championship, Jiří Bořek will sit next to Libor Horák on the site of the originally registered Ivan Fryč. Slovak driver Filip Šipoš will be navigated by Zdeněk Omelka instead of Pavel Zalabák. The number 114 changed the driver – Ján Kundlák from Slovakia will be behind the wheel of the Renault Clio Sport instead of Luďek Blanda.

Following crews were excused from the competition:

1 Alexey Lukyanuk, Alexey Arnautov (RUS, Citroën C3 Rally2), Sainteloc Junior Team
11 Umberto Scandola, Guido D´Amore (ITA, Hyundai i20 R5), Hyundai Rally Team Italia
24 Robert Adolf, Petr Novak (CZE, Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), AR Racing
27 Jaroslav Koltun, Ireneusz Pleskot (POL, Ford Fiesta Rally2), Plon RT
38 Teemu Asunmaa, Topi Luhtinen (FIN, Škoda Fabia Rally2 Kit), Proracing Rally Team
40 Serhii Potiiko, Ivan Misnyn (LTU, Škoda Fabia Rally2 Kit), Proracing Rally Team
54 Amaury Molle, Yannick Roche (BEL / FRA, Ford Fiesta Rally4), Amaury Molle
85 Tomas Vaclavik, Karel Voltner (CZE, Peugeot 208 R2), Tomas Vaclavik
93 Lukáš Frána, Pavel Odvárka (CZE, Citroën DS3 R3T), Frátherm Rally Team
147 Martin Čagánek (CZE, Citroën DS3 R1), Martin Čagánek

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