Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Kopecký has won six Special Stages in a row and he is leading Barum Rally

29. 8. 2015 - Petr Říha

A Czech Škoda Motorsport factory driver Jan Kopecký has scored number one on six special stages, which were scheduled for Saturday, and with each stage he is getting stronger and stronger. He increased his lead on Václav Pech to 24.3 seconds at the 45th Barum Czech Rally Zlín an event of FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) and of Czech Rally Championship 2015 (MČR). The third position is held by the leader of ERC Polish Kajetan Kajetanowicz who is behind Kopecký by a margin 52.7 seconds. There are two more Special Stages - Maják and Kudlovice, scheduled for Saturday.

Kopecký and his car Škoda Fabia R5 have risen to the top right after the second Special Stage when he outperformed the defending Barum Rally champion Václav Pech (Mini John Cooper Works S2000). Václav Pech still has not find a way how to close the gap between him and Kopecký.

Irish Craig Breen (Peugeot 208 T16) who is striving to be the European Rally champion has been dogged by bad luck at Barum Czech Rally Zlín. The second man of ERC had to deal with two punctures. But it was the second one in the fifth Special Stage at Kudlovice that hurt the most. Breen has lost almost two and half minute to Polish Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Ford Fiesta R5) who is leading ERC by 5 points after six completed events.

An untimely end has encountered a domestic driver Tomáš Kostka. Kostka, whose ambition was to be on a podium, was competing for the first time with Škoda Fabia R5, due to technical problems he did not finish the seventh Special Stage and his fourth position is now occupied by Russian Alexey Lukyanuk (Ford Fiesta R5) who is driving with a Belarusian license. In the morning French Robert Consani (Citroën DS3 R5) and two Czech drivers Jaromír Tarabus (Škoda Fabia R5) and Roman Odložilík (Ford Fiesta R5) had to retire. Consani and Odložilík had accidents and a malfunctioning oil pump meant the end for Odložilík.

There now six Czech drivers in the top ten at Barum Rally. Besides Kopecký and Pech, Pavel Valoušek is on the fifth position behind him is Jan Černý (both Škoda Fabia S2000) followed by Miroslav Jakeš (Citroën DS3 R5) and the top ten is closed by Antonín Tlusťák (Škoda Fabia S2000).

The production car category is led by Dávid Botka from Hungary (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX) and almost one minute behind him is Martin Březík (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX) who is ahead of Vojtěch Štajf (Subaru Impreza STi) by 3 minutes.

Swedish Emil Bergkvist took the lead in the two-wheel-drive category. German Marijan Griebel (both Opel Adam R2) is trying to keep up with him. The best Czech driver in this category Ondřej Bisaha (Citroën DS3 R3T) has fallen to the sixth place. Polish Aleks Zawada (Opel Adam R2) holds the third position in junior championship which is dominated by Bergkvist.

Two Special Stages are left for Saturday evening. Leg 2 starts on Sunday 30th August and the drivers have to pass six tests on three sections called Semetín, Troják and Žlutava of total length 87 kilometers. The fastest crew will be awarded on Sunday at 4 pm in front of the City Hall Zlín.

Unofficial results after SS7:
1. Kopecký, Dresler (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) 1:04:04.7 h
2. Pech, Uhel (CZE, Mini John Copper Works S2000) + 24.3 s
3. Kajetanowicz, Baran (POL, Ford Fiesta R5) + 52.6 s
4. Lukyanuk, Arnautov (BLR/RUS, Ford Fiesta R5) + 1:21.8 min
5. Valoušek, Havelková (CZE, Škoda Fabia S2000) + 1:38.7 min
6. Černý, Černohorský (CZE, Škoda Fabia S2000) + 2:25.2 min
7. Jakeš, J. Novák (CZE, Citroën DS3 R5) + 2:25.4 min
8. Kobus, de Wild (NLD, Škoda Fabia R5) + 2:44.4 min
9. Martin, Salva (FRA, Peugeot 208 T16) + 2:53.8 min
10. Tlusťák, Kučera (CZE, Škoda Fabia S2000) + 3:24.6 min