Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Dry Březová resulted in a huge time improvement, Kopecký leads

28. 8. 2022 - Jakub Kudláč

The second section of Saturday's leg of the 51st Barum Czech Rally Zlín was already dry compared to the morning section. And it had a significant effect on the times and performances. The number of crashes was considerably reduced, the drivers got faster. But what is constant is the leader. Jan Kopecký will start from the first place on Sunday. He will be aiming for his tenth European triumph at Barum rally and his seventh in a row.

Jan Kopecký took the win at Březová. Dominik Stříteský was close behind him, with Austrian Wagner taking the third place. Filip Mareš finished fifth, Erik Cais was seventh. What was remarkable was how much the drivers improved compared to the first passage in the wet. For example, the winner Kopecký with his time of 7:48.2 minutes improved by a fascinating 43.1 seconds! Although no one from the top crashed, the drivers experienced technical problems. The Spanish Pardo had a problem with a puncture, which increased his gap to the first place by 2:38.0 minutes, while Adam Březík was even worse.

Shortly after the start, a pipe from the intercooler fell into the turbo and the problem forced him to stop. In the end, the Czech crew reached the finish line with a fatal loss to Kopecký of 6:17.1 minutes.

SS Držková separated the wheat from the chaff in the morning, but this is different on the more than 24 kilometres long dry track. Erik Cais scored the first winning stage at this year's Barumka with a time of 13:40.7 minutes, beating Jan Kopecký by eight tenths of a second in his Ford Fiesta R5MkII. Third position was taken by Filip Mareš (both Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo), also with a small gap of 0.3 seconds. Fourth was Dominik Stříteský and sixth Adam Březík.

The sixth SS was the final one for the winner of the the first Saturday's stage, the Hungarian Miklós Csomós, after whose crash the race was stopped for some time.

The second passage through Semetín was again conquered by Jan Kopecký, driver of Agrotec Škoda Rally Team, who dominated the fifth SS out of seven. His time of 6:33.2 minutes was 2.6 seconds better than Erik Cais as the runner-up. Filip Mareš finished third for the second time in a row. Fifth was Dominik Stříteský, sixth was Adam Březík.

After Saturday's leg, Jan Kopecký is now leading with a relatively comfortable gap, as Erik Cais is 34.6 seconds behind him. Dominik Stříteský and Filip Mareš are in the third and fourth place. The top five is completed by Austrian Wagner.

Standings after the 7th stage:
1. Kopecký, Hloušek (CZE, Škoda Fabia Rally2) 1:04:06,0 hod
2. Cais, Těšínský (CZE, Ford Fiesta Rally2) + 34,6 s
3. Stříteský, Hovorka (CZE, Škoda Fabia R5) + 46,6 s
4. Mareš, Bucha (CZE, Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) + 48,2 s
5. S. Wagner, Winter (AUT, Škoda Fabia Rally2) + 57,7 s
6. Herczig, Ferencz (HUN, Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) + 3:02,8 min
7. Campedelli, Canton (ITA, Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) + 3:08,8 min
8. Battistolli, Scattolin (ITA, Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) + 3:12,7 min
9. von Thurn und Taxis, Ettel (DEU/AUT, Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) + 3:39,2 min
10. László, Berendi (HUN, Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) + 3:41,6 min

11. Astier, Vauclare (FRA, Alpine A110 RGT) 1st in RGT cat. + 3:42,4 min
14. Pellier, Pelamourgues (FRA,Opel Corsa Rally4) 1st in ERC4J cat. + 5:27,9 min
27. Widlak, Dymurski (POL, Ford Fiesta Rally3) 1st in ERC3 cat. + 9:45,1 min