Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

SS 12: Stříteský approaching the great success!

18. 8. 2024 - Jakub Kudláč

Leader of the 53rd BARUM CZECH RALLY ZLÍN 2024 before the final three stages is the Czech driver Dominik Stříteský. Although he and his co-driver Jiří Hovorka in the Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 did not win a single rally on Saturday morning, they still increased their lead at the front. They have a 21.4-second lead over the Austrian-German crew of Simon Wagner, Jara Hain. The third place is held by the crew of Adam Březík, Ondřej Krajča with a gap of 33.8 seconds to the leader of the competition.

The wet morning stage in Semetín depended on the right tires. Filip Mareš managed the best over the eleven-kilometre track, followed by Erik Cais and Jan Kopecký with absolutely minimal distance. In the overall standings, the second Austrian, Wagner shared the fourth place with Adam Březík, 1.9 seconds behind the first one. The leader Stříteský, also due to a slow puncture, finished the race twelfth, but due to very equal times he lost only 8.5 seconds to Mareš. Even the Frenchman Mathieu Franceschi experienced a double puncture at Semetín.

The czech crews took the first six positions on the feared SS 11 at Pindula. The most successful was Adam Březík, who was 4.2 seconds faster than Dominik Stříteský. Another two seconds behind was Erik Cais, which moved him off the podium behind Březík in the overall standings. The race did not go well at all for the Austrian Wagner, who finished tenth, 14.7 seconds behind the winner. The Italian Mathieu Franceschi was the unlucky one, who again finished with a puncture and so the whole event ended untimely for him.

The Halenkovice stage was run in beautiful sunny weather. Simon Wagner scored his second victory on the SS, with his Škoda Fabia Rally RS2 being 1.4 seconds faster than Erik Cais' identical car. Reigning European Champion and ERC standings leader Hayden Paddon took the third position, with leader Stříteský in fifth place, 3.6 seconds behind Wagner.

One thing is almost certain with three timed stages to go: for the first time since 2015, Zlín Rally star Jan Kopecký, whose puncture on Saturday's stage dropped him to his current ninth position, will not win. Dominik Stříteský, on the other hand, is close to winning the Zlín rally for the first time in nearly twenty years as a regional driver. However, there are still forty challenging kilometres to go.

53rd BARUM CZECH RALLY ZLÍN 2024 – standings after SS 12
1. Stříteský, Hovorka (CZE, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) 1:19:10,6 hod
2. S. Wagner, Hain (AUT/DEU, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 21,4 s
3. A. Březík, Krajča (CZE, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 33,8 s
4. Cais, Bacigál (CZE/SVK, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 37,6 s
5. Mareš, Bucha (CZE, Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) + 50,1 s
6. Llarena, Fernández (ESP, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 1:17,1 min
7. Marczyk, Gospodarczyk (POL, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 1:27,4 min
8. Neubauer, Ettel (AUT, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 1:45,3 min
9. Kopecký, Hloušek (CZE, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) + 2:30,7 min
10. Pech, Uhel (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 2:45,0 min

19. Kohn, Woodburn (CZE/GBR, Ford Fiesta Rally3), 1st in ERC3 + 8:44,1 min
24. P. Herczig, Varga (HUN, Peugeot 208 Rally4), 1st in ERC4, 2WD + 10:02,7 min

SS victories:
5 – Cais, 2 – S. Wagner, A. Březík, 1 – Mareš, Stříteský