Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Vančík Motorsport celebrated twice at Barum rally

23. 8. 2024 - Roman Ordelt

Even this year, the 16th STAR RALLY HISTORIC 2024, part of the Czech Historic Rally Championship, took place as part of the Barum Czech Rally Zlín. The winner was the crew of Jaroslav Vančík, Jan Tománek in a BMW M3, the second place was taken by Martin Černý, Jiří Haferník in the same car with a gap of 3:41.7 minutes, the third position was won by the brother duo Petr Jurečka, Martin Jurečka with a Subaru Impreza 555, which had a gap of 5:36.1 minutes to the winner. The leader of the competition and three-time winner of the Zlín rally of historians Vlastimil Neumann (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III) quit the competition during the first passage through the Pindula section due to a technical failure of the fuel pump.

This year's Barum Rally was like a dream come true for the Vančík Motorsport team from Lukov. First of all, team leader Jaroslav Vančík got behind the wheel again after a year and won for the fourth time in Zlín among the historical cars. Less than two hours later, Dominik Stříteský in the Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 celebrated a great triumph among the contemporary cars.

The prelude to the weekend's battles was Friday's Super Special Stage in the streets of the regional city. Neumann won it narrowly by 2.1 seconds ahead of Vančík, followed by Černý taking third place. Lumír Vyorálek's hopes of making his debut with the Lancias Delta HF Integrale ended on the city super special when a broken wheel put a stop to the race. Saturday morning was accompanied by sunny weather in the first leg. Neumann and Vančík continued their close battle in the opening SS Březová, with Vančík taking the lead by just 4 tenths of a second. Pavel Omelka (Ford Escort RS Cosworth) did not continue in the competition, he left the fifth place due to a technical failure. The trend of exchanging first and second place continued on the third SS Kateřinice, where Neumann won again by 1.4 seconds ahead of Vančík. Neumann also managed to win the fourth SS Rajnochovice in a close battle with Vančík, but dropped to second place due to a ten-second penalty for an early start.

The afternoon's fifth SS Bunč was affected by a strong storm, which was better handled by Neumann, who gained a lead of one minute and 15 seconds on Vančík. The second place on the wet track went to the Ford Escort RS 1600 of Jindrich Stolfa. Neumann confirmed his lead in the overall standings. Thanks to a good time, Černý was only 5 seconds closer to second-placed Vančík. The rain accompanied the second passage on Březová, where Vančík was again the winner. Here, Černý missed the chance to fight for the overall second place and was pushed to the fourth place by Martin Klepáč (Peugeot 306 Maxi). Saturday's session was completed by the second passage of SS Kateřinice, which, like the previous afternoon SS, was affected by a very wet track. Vančík followed up on winning the Březová stage. After Saturday's leg, Neumann held first place with a one-minute lead over second-placed Vančík in the overall standings. After Kateřinice stage, Černý was again third, with only one second to Klepac's fourth place.

Standings after the 1st leg: 1. Neumann (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III), 2. Vančík + 1:03,4 min, 3. M. Černý 2:05,0 min, 4. Klepáč (Peugeot 306 Maxi) + 2:06,0, 5. P. Pavlát + 4:26,0, 6. P. Jurečka + 4:29,9 min, 7. Janouch (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III) + 4:47,9 min, 8. Knížek + 5:07,9 min, 9. Štolfa (Ford Escort RS 1600) + 5:09,5 min, 10. Kašpar + 6:21,6 min.

Sunday morning of the second leg was marked by Vančík closing the gap on the leader Neumann. The BMW rider won the opening two stages on Sunday and reduced the gap to the leader to 32 seconds. Neumann, however, did not reach the finish line of the classic Pindula stage, first suffering a puncture and then a fuel pump failure on the stage led him to stop and retire from the competition. Vančík's path to a fourth Star Rally Historic victory was wide open, with his challengers, led by Černý, almost four minutes behind. On the very first Sunday SS, the seventh Janouch and the ninth Štolfa were excluded from the top ten due to technical faults. Due to a broken wheel at Semetín, Klepáč retired from the third place. The difficulty of the race gave the crews a hard time. In the end, Petr Jurečka reached the finish third, Knížek finished just below the podium.

A total of 39 crews from the Czech Republic, Poland, Sweden, Slovakia and Spain started this year's 16th edition of Star Rally Historic out of the original 42 entries (one car was reclassified to Legends before the start). 21 crews reached the finish line.

Feedback from the top drivers at the finish:
Jaroslav Vančík: "It was a difficult race, mainly because of the weather. On Saturday we got off the track, but the fans got us back on the road and thanks to them we were able to continue. It was a nice race, it was a pity Vlasta Neumann couldn't fight us on the track, but that's motorsport. We were even still able to follow Dominik from a distance, it's definitely our biggest success so far."

Martin Černý: "It was a classic Barum rally. It was long, the weather was changeable, it was a tough rally. We are satisfied with the second place. Despite having some problems with the technique and punctures, we did well and we are happy to be at the finish line."

Petr Jurečka: "It was not easy. The weather played with us on Saturday, but it was a beautiful competition. It's a pity for Vlasta Neumann, even though his retirement helped us."

The participants of the Rally of Legends demonstration drive performed a great show for the spectators. During Friday and Saturday, the fans were especially fascinated by the Slovak guests, namely Jozef Béreš Jr. in the Opel Ascona 400 or the Spišák brothers and their Lada VFTS. The spectators were also entertained by Josef Urban with his father Jaroslav as a co-driver in Skoda 130 LR, Hungarian Ferenc Molnár in his Zhiguli and many others. Fans could admire Audi Quattro A2, Porsche 924 Turbo, Fiat Ritmo Abarth and other beautiful cars. A total of 44 crews took part in the Rally of Legends, besides the Czech Republic, participants from Slovakia, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Germany and Belgium came to Zlín.

XVI. STAR RALLY HISTORIC 2024 – final standings:
1. Vančík, Tománek (CZE, BMW M3) 1:40:35.3 hod
2. M. Černý, Haferník (CZE, BMW M3) + 3:41.7 min
3. Petr Jurečka, Pavel Jurečka (CZE, Subaru Impreza 555) + 5:36.1 min
4. Knížek, Šlegl (CZE, BMW 318 iS) + 6:25.3 min
5. P. Pavlát, M. Pavlát (CZE, Toyota Celica GT Four) + 7:10.3 min
6. Kašpar, Adámek (CZE, Škoda 130 LR) + 7:34.4 min
7. Mihulka, Soumar (CZE, Ford Escort RS 2000) + 12:36,0 min
8. Silber, Kluka (CZE, LADA 21011 MTX Rallye) + 13:55.5 min
9. Burget, Smrčková (CZE, Škoda 120 S Rallye) + 15:30.7 min
10. Steuer, Nohel (CZE, Škoda 130 LR) + 15:55.9 min

SS victories: Vančík – 8, Neumann - 4

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