Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

The defending winner of Barum Rally Václav Pech won the Spectators’ Super Special Stage

29. 8. 2015 - Roman Ordelt

A very successful entrance to the 45th Barum Czech Rally Zlín performed the duo Václav Pech, Petr Uhel with their car Mini John Cooper Works S2000. This crew managed to pass the three rounds in the fastest ever time outperforming last year's stage's record made by a Dutch driver Kevin Abbring. A Škoda Motorsport factory crew Jan Kopecký, Pavel Dresler with Škoda Fabia R5 were beaten by 3.7 seconds.

Third place was occupied by Tomáš Kostka, Lukáš Kostka, Škoda Fabia R5, who lost 5.5 seconds to Pech. The first stage of Barum Rally, a seventh event of FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) and a fifth event of Czech Rally Championship 2015 (MČR), was witnessed by more than 30 thousand spectators.

129 crews from 25 countries made their way through a starting ramp in very-Mid-European tropical conditions. The opening stage most suited the last winner of Barum Rally Václav Pech and behind him were the Czech drivers Kopecký and Kostka. The leading drivers of ERC Craig Breen from Ireland (Peugeot 208 T16) and Kajetan Kajetanowicz from Poland (Ford Fiesta R5) finished on a fourth and a fifth position. The fast Russian driver Alexey Lukyanuk, a contestant with a Belarusian license, on his first ever rally in Zlín finished sixth. Among the fastest ten were the Czech drivers Pavel Valoušek, Miroslav Jakeš and Jaromír Tarabus and the Dutch driver Hermen Kobus managed to squeeze between them on a ninth position. The best driver on the city circuit in the two-wheel-drive category was Egon Smékal (Citroën DS3 R3T) and in production cars category it was Martin Březík (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX). The Spectators' Super Special Stage did not go smoothly and it was interrupted three times due to ambulance trip to civilian cases.

Leg 1 is scheduled for Saturday 29 August with very challenging special stages on four different tracks called Slušovice, Pindula, Maják and Kudlovice. The drivers will show their driving skills on 8 special stages of total length 142 km. Saturday's rally adventure starts at 8 am and the first crew should park their car in front of the building of a company Continental Barum s.r.o. at 8:32 pm.

Unofficial results of SS1 (length 9.51 km)
1. Pech, Uhel (CZE, Mini John Copper Works S2000) 7:08.3 min
2. Kopecký, Dresler (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 3.7 s
3. T. Kostka, L. Kostka (CZE, Ford Fabia R5) + 5.5 s
4. Breen, Martin (IRL/GBR, Peugeot 208 T16) + 5.7 s
5. Kajetanowicz, Baran (POL, Ford Fiesta R5) + 7.7 s
6. Lukyanuk, Arnautov (BLR/RUS, Ford Fiesta R5) + 9.3 s
7. Valoušek, Havelková (CZE, Škoda Fabia S2000) + 10.0 s
8. Jakeš, J. Novák (CZE, Citroën DS3 R5) + 11.7 s
9. Kobus, de Wild (NLD, Škoda Fabia R5) + 13.1 s
10. Tarabus, Trunkát (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 14.2 s