Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Vančík and Tománek ruled Star Rally Historic 2022

31. 8. 2022 - Jakub Kudláč, Vlastimil Motýl

Star Rally Historic 2022 knows its winners. The battle for first place was lost by the winner of the last three seasons, Vlastimil Neumann in a Ford Escort RS Cosworth, as the crew of Jaroslav Vančík and Jan Tománek in a BMW M3 was 32.8 seconds faster. Third place belongs to Otakar Zenkl Jr. and his co-driver Zdeněk Omelka (Škoda Favorit 136 L) with a difference of almost nine minutes behind the winner.

Neumann and co-driver Martin Hlavatý had a better start to the competition. Neumann dominated Friday's SS through the centre of Zlín. The battle for the victory was clearly between him and Vančík. The winner of the last three seasons was leading by 6.7 seconds after Saturday's leg.

On Sunday, however, Vančík pushed hard, won the first four stages and built up a comfortable lead of more than half a minute. He didn't have to regret losing 0.6 seconds on the last SS, as the golden laurel belonged still to the crew of the beautiful BMW M3! "Of course I'm happy with the win, but I have to say that it was very difficult. The conditions were much easier for the 4WD than for us, but I really have nothing to criticize in the end. Unpredictable, but beautiful at the same time, changing conditions, surface, rain on top of that. We have successfully managed even yesterday's last stages without the light ramp. I'm still learning with this car, we gained experience and today we managed to evaluate it. We had a great time during the whole competition," said a happy Jaroslav Vančík at the finish in Zlín's square. He won the Star Rally Historic for the third time, having previously triumphed in 2012, 2013 in a Lada VFTS.

The second Vlastimil Neumann took the loss in the fight for the supreme position with a smile. "The faster one won, that's how it is in rallying. The spectators were great and we waved to them, so maybe that slowed us down so much that we finished second," he said amusedly to the fans.

Otakar Zenkl Jr., the third driver of this year's Historics, was literally glowing. "We are extremely satisfied, it's a satisfaction for the last year, when we retired twice. It was certainly not possible to go higher, the two cars in front of us are simply unbeatable. We were just watching the positions behind us, as our closest rival, Jan Frei, dropped out with one mistake on Sunday morning," lamented Zenkel, standing on the roof of his fast Favorit taking photos with the trophy of the third position.

A total of 33 crews from the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary started this year's 14th Star Rally Historic, an event of the Autoclub of Czech Historic Car Rally Championship 2022, out of the original 35 entries. A total of 18 crews reached the finish line. The event also included a demonstration drive of the Rally of Legends, where 25 cars took part, including crews from Hungary, Slovakia, Austria and Germany in addition to the Czech Republic.

Final Standings of XIV. Star Rally Historic 2022:
1. Vančík, Tománek (CZE, BMW M3) 1:56:45,4 hod
2. Neumann, Hlavatý (CZE, Ford Escort RS Cosworth) + 32,8 s
3. O. Zenkl jr., Z. Omelka (CZE, Škoda Favorit 136 L) + 8:58,3 min
4. Petr Jurečka, Pavel Jurečka (CZE, Subaru Impreza 555) + 11:22,9 min
5. P. Hejhal, M. Hejhal (CZE, Škoda 130 LR) + 12:46,9 min
6. Hýbner, Teplá (CZE, Ford Sierra Cosworth) + 14:40,0 min
7. Šrámek, Horáček (BMW 318 iS) + 14:45,6 min
8. Pavlíček, Poláček (CZE, Ford Escort RS 1600) + 16:19,5 min
9. Dolák, Kulhan (CZE, Lada 21011) + 20:43,7 min
10. Drbal, Zdráhal (CZE, VAZ 21074) + 20:45,7 min

SS Winners:
6 – Vančík, 5 – Neumann