Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Barum rally ambassador attacks the medal positions

18. 6. 2024 - Roman Ordelt

The young talented driver Daniel Polášek has been appointed ambassador of BARUM CZECH RALLY ZLÍN for this year. In his role as an official ambassador, he is spreading the fame of Zlín Rally at FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) events. Together with co-driver Zdeněk Omelka in a Peugeot 208 Rally4, he is placed fourth in the European Junior Championship standings. "We're still going in with the intention of winning the championship," said the determined regional driver from the Zlín region.

Daniel Polášek is the third ambassador of Barum rally Zlín. The first one was Jaromír Tarabus in 2015, who was replaced three years ago by Erik Cais. "We are taking advantage of Dan's starts abroad to make the Barum rally even more visible. His task is to attract not only foreign drivers to attend, but also motoring fans to visit Zlín. Dan is an excellent representative of human qualities and continues in the previous ambassadorships of Mirek Tarabus and Erik Cais," said Ing. Jan Regner, Clerk of the Course of Barum Czech Rally Zlín Barum Czech Rally Zlín.

Daniel Polášek competed in the Junior European Championship with the Ford Fiesta Rally4 in 2021 and 2022, when he finished seventh in the final standings. Last season, he preferred the prestigious championship in Finland, which was run exclusively on snow and gravel. In the intense competition, he took an excellent fourth place in his class. This year he returned to the championship of the old continent. On the third weekend in June he competed in the gravel Royal Rally of Scandinavia in Sweden. "It was a very tough race for us. Starting with the travel to the north of Europe and then the familiarisation runs, which are in a hurry. For the third year in a row the ERC has been shortened to just four days. A lot of fatigue prevailed before the actual competition and a sleep deficit on top of that. On Friday's opening stage, we stopped at Max McRae's accident and worked out an alternate time. After that, we got up to speed, but a puncture in the morning section slowed us down. Things got better in the afternoon, as evidenced by the times we set. We gained more confidence in the car and the schedule," said Daniel Polášek, who celebrated his 25th birthday in Sweden. The Zlín crew of Polášek and Omelka finished the opening stage sixth. "On Saturday we set great times and after the resignation of the home crew we moved just below the podium. We were thirteen seconds short of the podium, but unfortunately our nerves came into play. I made mistakes when I braked three times through the corner. We should have been glad to get back on track. In the afternoon we focused on keeping fourth place, which we did," said the former Czech national swimmer.

Daniel Polášek is fourth in the junior standings and also in the ERC4 category. How does he evaluate the season so far? "The start in Hungary was not as expected. Right at the beginning we broke a wheel and in the end it resulted in at least ninth place in the Super Rally. Now after Sweden we are not too far behind second place. It's true that the leader Mille Johansson has ran away from us, but there are still three races to go and a whole half of the season ahead of us. Anything can happen."

More information available at www.czechrally.com and don't forget to follow the Barum rally on the official Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts and the other press information.

Zlín, 18th June 2024

Roman ORDELT
Press Relations Officer
Barum Czech Rally Zlín