The co-driver of Jan Kopecky Petr Stary has fulfilled his life dream
PRESS RELEASE no. 45
The atmosphere of the final press conference of the 39th Barum Czech Rally Zlín 2009 was very relaxed. The three winning crews were very spontaneous and entertained themselves as well as the present journalists. The happiest crew were of course Jan Kopecký and his co-driver Petr Starý who won with their Škoda Fabia S2000. “It was an amazing rally. I must admit that I was a bit afraid of the spectators and that some of the stages might be cancelled due to them. But the organizers have done a perfect job. The spectators stood far enough from the track but not that far so that we could enjoy the race. I really admire everybody who participated in the organization,“ the appreciated the work of the organizers the winner of the rally. He also praised the car. “We were completely satisfied with the car. Everything worked 100%. We changed the set up after the first stages and then we only changed the tyres.“ His co-driver Petr Starý was also happy. “It was a wonderful rally,“ said Starý. “There was great competition and the stages were amazing. This all makes the Barum Rally a unique rally. I’ve always dreamed of winning and this dream has bee fufilled today.“
The second fastest driver was also satisfied. Kris Meeke has been in Zlin for the first time and he will leave not only with important points for the IRC but also with many pleasant experiences. “I liked it here a lot. When we had a puncture and lost more than 30 seconds during the Super stage, I didn’t believe we would get too high. We also made mistakes at other stages, so the second place is an amazing result,“ said Meeke and he also appreciated the winning team. “The Škod team worked perfectly. Their cars were prepared well so it’s great that I got between two factory drivers. It will be very interesting now with regard to the points in the IRC.“
Also Juho Hänninen who was on the third place with another Škoda was satisfied. “We liked it here during the recce but the rally was even nicer. Everything worked perfectly and the team was excellent. It was an amazing weekend,“said the Finnish driver who greeted the journalists in Czech, which caused a huge applause. “I understand and can speak Czech a little but it’s much better for the team when we communicate in English,“ added he smilingly. It could seem that the winning crew just went for the victory easily on Sunday. During the first Sunday stage Kopecky’s biggest competition Freddy Loix retired. The Czech driver so had more than a one minute lead to Meeke. “It didn’t matter. I would even say that it was even more difficult. I’d rather fight over seconds until the last stage because keeping such lead causes the loss of focus and it’s easy to make a fatal mistake. I’m happy we managed,“ explained Jan Kopecký.
While Kopecký made no major mistakes, his team colleague got out of the route. “We missed the correct turn once and had to reverse and then some leaves got under the bonnet and we had to stop and clean it. We were near retirement,“ said Hänninen. The rain also influenced the race. It surprised many crews on Saturday. However, the best crews managed. “It’s good that it started raining on Saturday. There were too many nice girls in short skirts along the track and when it started raining, they had to dress up and I could focus on driving,“ joked Jan Kopecký. His co-driver was more serious. “The wet track was a big complication but we managed to do good even with the slick tyres,“ said Petr Starý.
The rain was not a complication for Hänninen. “It doesn’t matter to us if it rains or not. We drive on wet roads quite often,“ said the Finnish driver who lost the third place two stages before the finish. The third place was taken over by Roman Kresta. “Even though Roman is an excellent driver, we were faster for the whole morning. He was just a few seconds ahead us so I believed that I would get over the third place again,“ admitted Hänninen.
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