The winner of the 39th Barum Czech Rally Zlín is Jan Kopecký with a Škoda Fabia S2000
PRESS RELEASE no. 44
The Czech crew Jan Kopecký and Petr Starý brought their factory Škoda Fabia Super 2000 to the victory of the 39th Barum Czech Rally Zlín which is part of the Czech championship, European Rally Championship and Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The driver from the Škoda Motorsport team won with more than a minute lead over the current leader of the IRC Kris Meeke (UK). The success of the Škoda Motorsport team was supported by the third place of Juho Hänninen (Finland) who withstood the final attack of Roman Kresta who finished on the fourth place with his Peugeot 207 S2000. However, he gained all points for the Czech championship.
The first Sunday stage meant loss of hopes for the last years winner Freddy Loix (Belgium). He had a puncture at Trojak stage and retired due to technical difficulties. Evgeny Novikov also did not keep his top 10 place and retired at SS 13. The Czech crew Pech – Uhel with a Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX was the only one to get to the top 10 with a production car. There were two more Czech crews in top 10 – the junior world champion and winner of this years BF Goodrich Drivers Team project Martin Prokop (Peugeot 207 S2000) was on the fifth place, followed by Pavel Valoušek (Škoda Fabia S2000) who moved upwards by three places in comparison with Saturday.
Standings after Leg 2 (after SS 15 – Komárov):
1st Kopecký – Starý (CZE, Škoda Fabia S2000) 2:24:21,1 min
2nd Meeke – Nagle (GBR, Peugeot 207 S2000) + 1:00,4 min
3rd Hänninen – Markkula (FIN, Škoda Fabia S2000) + 2:00,8 min
4th Kresta – Gross (CZE, Peugeot 207 S2000) + 2:10,8 min
5th Prokop – Tománek (CZE, Peugeot 207 S2000) + 2:39,6 min
6th Valoušek – Hrůza (CZE, Škoda Fabia S2000) + 4:50,4 min
7th Tóth – Tagai (HUN, Peugeot 207 S2000) + 5:19,7 min
8th Pech – Uhel (CZE, Mitsubishi lancer Evo IX) + 5:23,2 min
9th Solowow – Baran (POL, Peugeot 207 S2000) + 5:53,2 min
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