Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Nail-biting rally continues, Kopecký with 5.9 seconds lead

28. 8. 2016 - Petr Říha, Roman Ordelt

The Czech rally driver Jan Kopecký (Škoda Fabia R5) increased his lead on Russia's Alexey Lukyanuk (Ford Fiesta R5) and after stage twelve he is close to winning at the 46th Barum Czech Rally Zlín. On the last section the Škoda Motorsport factory driver will defend his 5.9 seconds lead on the eight event of the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) and the fifth event of Auto-club Czech Rally Championship 2016. For the third place is fighting France's Bryan Bouffier (Citroën DS3 R5) with the Zlín driver Jaromír Tarabus (Škoda Fabia R5). Home driver is only two seconds away from the podium. There are three more stages left.

After Saturday's Leg 1 the difference between Kopecký and Lukyanuk was only a half a second. On Sunday morning the Czech driver was faster than his opponent and won the stages Kašava and Maják. But Lukyanuk is still quite close and he will not make it easier for Kopecký. If Kopecký succeeds, he will win Barum Czech Rally Zlín for the fifth time and receive the Challenge cup for good.

There is also a tight fight for the third place, which now holds Bryan Bouffier ahead of Jaromír Tarabus. Tomáš Kostka (Škoda Fabia R5) fell of the podium because of technical problems and now in sixth and in front of him is Jan Černý (Škoda Fabia R5). Bad luck seems to follow Pavel Valoušek from Otrokovice (Škoda Fabia R5), on Saturday a rock was in his way and the puncture slowed him down even on Sunday morning. But he is still in the top ten, eighth to be precise.

Out of the rally is a multiple Czech champion Václav Pech, who was entertaining fans with his car Porsche 997 GT3. Pech was let down by a malfunctioning gearbox on stage 10 and after finishing this stage, he retired. At that time he was holding the eighth position in overall classification. Moments later also Latvia's Ralfs Sirmacis (Škoda Fabia R5) retired due to a crash.

The defending ERC champion Kajetan Kajetanowicz (Ford Fiesta R5) was allowed to come back thanks to the rule Rally 2 but with penalty after retiring on Saturday.

The category ERC2 is safely lead by Italy's Giacomo Scattolon (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX), in the category ERC3 and junior British Christopher Ingram (Opel Adam R2). Another thrilling fight is between Poland's Lukasz Pieniazek (Opel Adam R2) and Italy's Luca Rossetti (Toyota GT86 CS-R3) who is pushing hard for the second place. The three-time European champion is 8.6 seconds behind the Polish driver. The fastest one in the two-wheel drive category is Slovakia's Martin Koči (Citroën DS3 R3T).

Last three stages Kašava, Pindula and Maják will tell who is going the winner of the 46th Barum Czech Rally Zlín. The most successful crew will receive the cup at 4:25 p.m. on square náměstí Míru in front of the Town hall.

Standings after 12th SS:
1. Jan Kopecký – Pavel Dresler (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) 1:39:22.4 hour
2. Alexey Lukyanuk – Alexey Arnautov (RUS, FORD Fiesta R5) + 5.9 s
3. Bryan Bouffier – Gilbert Dini (FRA, Citroën DS3 R5) + 1:50.3 min
4. Jaromír Tarabus – Daniel Trunkát (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 1:52.3 min
5. Jan Černý – Petr Černohorský (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 2:11.6 min
6. Tomáš Kostka – Ladislav Kučera (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 2:14.9 min
7. Fabian Kreim – Frank Christian (DEU, Škoda Fabia R5) + 2:33.4 min
8. Pavel Valoušek – Veronika Havelková (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 3:10.8 min
9. Martin Vlček – Jindřiška Žáková (CZE, Ford Fiesta R5) + 4:14.0 min
10. Vojtěch Štajf – František Rajnoha (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 4:32.7 min

22. Martin Koči – Lukáš Kostka (SVK/CZE, Citroën DS3 R3T), 1. 2WD + 9:51.6 min
23. Ingram – Edmondson (GBR, Opel Adam R2), 1st place ERC3, JERC + 10:15.8 min
24. Scattolon – Zanini (ITA, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO IX), 1st place ERC2 + 10:19.7 min