BARUM RALLY ZLIN 24.-26.8.2007

Brief event history

The Barum Rally will be held for the 39^th time. It will take place in the Zlin region as part of the European Rally Championship and this year for the third time as part of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The Barum Rally is held every year at the end of summer in the Zlin region and three years ago it was a candidate for the world championship for the first time. Since 1983 it has been part of the European Rally championship and since 2002 it has been an elite event among the European championship rallies. FIA evaluates the rally highly every year, which makes it one of the best organized rallies in Europe. Let us have a look at previous editions of the rally which worked its way through from an amateur rally to the European top under the leadership of Miloslav Regner and his team.

Stars of the rally:

triple fold winners Vladimír Hubáček (1972, 1973, 1975), John Haugland from Norway (1976, 1979, 1980), Enrico Bertone from Italy (1995, 1997, 1998), Roman Kresta (2000, 2001, 2006)

Winners of the last three editions:

2006 Roman Kresta, 2007 Nicolas Vouilloz from France, 2008 Freddy Loix from Belgium

An amateur competition, which started the history of the Barum Rally in 1971, continued as part of the Car Championship of ČSSR in the next year. The spectators could especially admire the legendary blue "alpin" driven by Vladimír Hubáček. In the 1970s the entry lists included mostly Škoda 100, 110 and 120 driven not only by top drivers, such as Milan Žid, Oldřich Horsák, Karel Šimek or Jiří Šedivý, but also by a new generation, including Václav Blahna, Leo Pavlík, Milan Zapadlo and others. For this period the so called "sprint legs" and "qualification and special circuit stages" were typical. Even at this rally those who wanted to win had to practise hard not only the stages but also the total distances.

Some of them led through very difficult and technical sections, very often in the dark and with fast speed. The stages were located in the Beskydy and Javorníky mountains and the route also reached Slovakia. However, apart from the beautiful sections the routes were both fast asphalt or broken gravel. Domestic fans used to watch the competition stars of the early 1970s at the Vltava Rally in Klatovy. But after 1974, the focus slowly moved to the superior entry list of the Barum Rally. The entry list of the 4th year was dominated by names like Walter Röhrl, Franze Wittmann, Ilja Čubrikov or Werner Hauck. Many Austrian, German and Italian crews also attended the Barum Rally in the next years. Some of them with favour, some of them with fear drove through the famous gavel stage near Strážnice.

The second part of the 1970s was dominated by an excellent car from Mladá Boleslav, Škoda 130 RS. The legendary Norwegian driver John Haugland gained three victories (in 1976, 1979 and 1980) with this car. While he failed in 1977 and 1978, his colleagues Václav Blahna and Jiří Šedivý, who also drove Škoda, succeeded, respectively. At the end of the 1970s a few fast Italian drivers representing the team Quattro Rombi Corse visited former Gottwaldov with  very well-prepared cars Fiat 131 Abarth and Fiat Ritmo. Even though the star crews "Lucky" Fabrizia Ponz and Ceccato de Antoni failed, the team made a very good impression in Walachia. In 1981 it was their compatriot

Andrea Zanussi with a Porsche 911 SC who won. In those days the route started being formed to the shape which was known till the 1990s. Apart from the classical stages Pindula and Maják, the new beautiful and difficult stages in the Kašava surrounding were built along with the Vsetín section. The charm of the Barum Rally was in its atmosphere along with the magic of night passages at Kopná, under the Malenovice castle or at Pindula.

When looking back at the history of the Barum Rally we can find several very interesting years. Apart from the years 1974, 1976, 1981 and above all 1990 and 1991, it was certainly 1985. The Škoda 130 L, group B, the successor of the legendary "130 RS" was introduced at the Barum Rally track.

This car managed to take all the winning places of the 13th edition after the beautiful fight between Křeček and a Swedish driver Jokim during its last participation. The entry list of the 15th year was ruled by foreign drivers with Renault 5 Turbo (Ferjancz,Yugoslav Kuzmič from Hungary) and Opel Manta or Ascona 400 (Moosleitner, Hainbach, Richter from Germany) and the absolute top was Audi Quattro, with which the German driver Harald Demuth vindicated his victory from 1984.

For the next two years the competition was held in Slovakia in the Topolčany surrounding. The name of the Slovak mountains Tríbeč, in which one of the most

beautiful central European stages Solčany - Lefantovce was held, was added to the name of the rally. A similar beauty-spot was offered by the Povážský Inovec with 31 km of asphalt and gavel at the Dubodiel - Závada section. For the first time it was Leo Pavlík and Karel Jirátko who won, Jiří Sedlář was on the second place and third came Armin Schwarz. While for the German driver it was the beginning of his way towards the European top, the talent of his opponent was burnt in an accident during the shakedown three years later. The era of the category A was started at the Barum Rally by Attila Ferjancz, and his co-driver dr. János Tandari (Audi Coupé Quattro).

In 1988 this crew appeared at the Barum Rally again. However, their chance for victory was taken by the presence of the top Austrian drivers with the "Emperor" Franz Wittmann in the lead. Wittmann dominated the rally for the next two years and gained the points for the Austrian championship. At the beginning of the 1990s the Barum Rally received the coefficient 10 and in the entry list appeared the names of the top European drivers fighting for the victory in the European championship. The excellent fight between Sundstöm (Finland) and Bosch (the Netherlands) which was won by the Finnish driver in 1990 was followed by victories of Patrick Snijers (Belgium) in 1991 and 1994 and Erwing Weber (Germany) in 1992. In 1993 it was Raimund Baumschlager who fulfilled his desire for the victory. The 22^nd edition was the last in which Josef Sivík (fifth place), who was the only driver to participate in all previous editions, took part. The second half of the 1990s was ruled mostly by Czech drivers. An Italian driver Enrico Bertone become one of the top Czech drivers thank to the Czech license and Czech (and later Slovak) team.

He won at the Barum Rally in 1995 for the first time. Thus, another European champion appeared on the Barum Rally cup. In 1996 Bertone did not participate, which allowed Stanislav Chovanec (Czech Republic) to win.

A test polygon in the Tatra Kopřivnice car factory area became a dominant element of the track in the 1990s. The polygon perfectly suited both Bertone’s driving style and the potential of his Toyota Celica cars and became a basic success of his victories in 1997 and 1998. How Bertone would act in the trial for the third victory with a front-wheel drive Renault Megane Maxi remains unanswered.

The popular Italian driver retired after SS 1 and it was the Polish driver Janusz Kulig with Toyota Celica who rejoiced in victory. A Challenge Trophy for the Barum Rally winner could gain its permanent owner for the first time. The conditions for that are three victories in row or five victories in total. The anniversary 30^th Barum Rally was won by a Zlín driver Roman Kresta with a Škoda Octavia WRC leaving Bertone behind. Thus, Kresta fulfilled his dream at the age of twenty-four and became the youngest winner in the Barum Rally history. Kresta also won in 2001.

In 2002 the organizers led by Miloslav Regner lived to experience a deserved evaluation

– the promotion among the European elite events with the highest coefficient 20!  In total 15 WRC cars and eight drivers with FIA B priority appeared in the entry list! More than a quarter of million spectators watched the dramatic rally and an exciting fight between two excellent drivers for three days. The Czech champion Roman Kresta with Octavia and the Italian champion Renato Travaglia with Peugeot excited the spectators, when only Polish drivers Janusz Kulig with Ford and Leszek Kuzaj with Peugeot were able to compete with them. Kresta had an accident in SS 3 and it was Travaglia who celebrated worthily the victory. He did a significant step towards the future European champion title in Zlín.

In 2002 the organizers led by Miloslav Regner were evaluated – the rally was promoted among the elite European competitions with the highest coefficient 20! In total 15 WRC cars and 8 FIA B priority drivers participated! More than 250,000 spectators watched the thrilling rally for three days. The Czech champion Roman Kresta with a Skoda Octavia and Italian champion Renato Travaglia with a Peugeot thrilled the spectators when only Polish drivers Janusz Kulig with a Ford and Leszek Kuzaj with a Peugeot. Kresta crashed during the leg 3 and Travaglia became the winner, which helped him to achieve the European champion title. In 2003 two drivers fought over the European victory – Miguel Campos (Portugal) and Bruno Thiry (Belgium), both with Peugeot 206 WRC. Roman Kresta with another Peugeot was supposed to fight with them. However, it was Vaclav Pech with a Ford Focus WRC who was lucky. Kresta made a mistake during the opening part of the rally and during the leg 2 he retired after another error and due to technical difficulties. Thiry retired at the beginning of the leg 3 due to the engine breakdown and Campos was happy enough to achieve the second place after the problems he had. The biggest attraction of the past few years were Super 1600 cars. In 2004 they were introduced by a European Champion Simon Jean-Joseph (France) with a Renault Clio S1600 and his rivals Giandomenico Basso and Renato Travaglia (Italy), Pavel Valoušek and Martin Prokop (Czech Republic), fast Polish drivers, Belgians, Dutch or Scandinavians.

The 35^th Barum Rally in 2005 was a turning point in its history. It was the first time that it was a candidate event for the world championship and the Super SS in the streets of Zlin was held for the first time. The rally was won by the crew Renato Travaglia, Flavio Zanella with a Renault Clio S1600. Although Travaglia only won at four sections, he had a big enough lead in the first leg thanks to Jean-Joseph’s retirement and Basso’s technical difficulties. He managed to keep this lead during Sunday. The second leg was ruled by Giandomenico Basso. His Fiat Punto S1600 worked perfectly and Basso won four stages in row. He managed to decrease Travaglia’s lead  from one minute to 28.3 seconds before the last two sections. However, Travaglia did not allow any dramatic situation and secured his victory. This was the second time he won at the Barum Rally – the first time was in 2002. The second place after Saturday was occupied by Martin Prokop with Suzuki Ignis S1600 who tried to fight with Basso on Sunday morning but had an accident.

In 2006, Roman Kresta was accompanied by rain on his way to his third victory at the Barum Rally. The dramatic final was complicated by bad weather. Nevertheless, the crew Romant Kresta, Petr Gross (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX) won for the third time. There are only three other drivers who won Barum Rally three times - Enrico Bertone, John Haugland and Vladimír Hubáček. However, no one has won three times consecutively so far. Václav Pech was on the second place. However, he had some problems with his Lancer’s turbo which started to steam by the end of the SS 13. Jandík and Bouffier fought over the third place. It was the last special stage that decided that the crew Bryan Bouffier, Xavier Panseri would achieve the third place. These likable French with a Peugeot 206 S1600 became the most pleasant surprise of the rally.

In 2007 the rally became a part of the prestigious Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) for the first time. The rally was won by Nicolas Vouilloz of the Peugeot Sport Espaňa team who also won the Turkish Fiat Rally in May. The second place was achieved by Enrique García Ojeda of the same team. Peugeot 207 S2000 was successfully introduced by them. Also the Czech drivers achieved high standings. Václav Pech gained the third place, Roman Kresta was fourth and Václav Arazim sixth. All of them drove Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX. Bernd Casier from Belgium was fifth. One of the top 10 drivers was Simon Jean-Joseph from France who then became the European champion for the second time.

In 2008 the rally was ruled by the Peugeot brand and Kronos team. The entry list was best in the Barum Rally’s history and included a remarkable number of quality European drivers and 21 Super 2000 cars. The entry list was also the best in the history of Czech rallies. Jan Kopecký was a forerunner and introduced Škoda Fabia S2000 from the Škoda Motorsport team. After the domestic favourites, Roman Kresta and Václav Pech, retired, only three Czech drivers remained in top 10. The best Czech driver was Pavel Valoušek on the fourth place, Josef Peták was on the eighth place and Roman Odložilík was on the tenth place. The event was won by Freddy Loix from Belgium who was followed by his team colleague Nicolas Vouilloz (France). The third place was gained by Bryan Bouffier (France).

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The elite European drivers will also compete in Super 200 cars during the 39^th year on a modern track. Its map contains sections on the roads in the Chriby highlands that were added to the track six years ago. Short stages gradually disappeared and the rally is held on a relatively low number of sections. Nevertheless, it is held on the best roads offered by the region. The fans are invited above all to the attractive Super SS in the streets of Zlin.