Articles

A new three-year contract with the ERC promoter has been signed!

14. 5. 2025 - Roman Ordelt

The international competition BARUM CZECH RALLY ZLÍN will continue as a part of the FIA European Rally Championship (ERC) series until at least 2028. The new three-year contract was signed in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic in Prague by WRC Promoter GmbH manager Iain Campbell and Miloslav Regner, chairman of the organizing committee of the Zlín rally. The popular Barum rally is one of the key events of the European Championship every year and one of the highlights of the season not only in the Czech Republic.

This year, Barum rally will be part of the European Championship for the 42. year in a row, as the first European points were awarded in Zlín back in 1984! The level of the championship on the old continent has increased significantly, as evidenced by the number of high-quality drivers who compete for European points every year. "We are extremely pleased that the promoter of the European Championship continues to cooperate with us. From a common perspective, we see that to continue the work we have set out to do is the right way. We see that the European Championship have a great diversity of the starting field in terms of drivers and brands," said Miloslav Regner, chairman of the organizing committee.

The promoter of the FIA ​​World Rally Championship (WRC) series also secures the rights for the ERC, which is an important step forward for this championship in the world of rallying. Iain Campbell, ERC Manager, commented the signing of the new contract with the Zlín organizers: "We are very pleased to be extending our long-standing partnership with Barum Czech Rally Zlín to cover the 2026, 2027 and 2028 seasons. Every August we're not only assured of a very warm welcome, but we can also count on plenty of action and a guarantee of tens of thousands of fans lining the route. The organisers go to great lengths to put on a spectacular show and never hold back in finding ways to tweak the route to keep the challenge fresh and exciting for the competitors."

This year's event was patronized, as in previous years, by Ing. Karel Havlíček, Vice-Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. "The Barum Rally is one of the most important sporting events, popular among not only all motorsport fans. I am very well aware of how much work and energy goes into preparing this prestigious event. The organizers, crews and, last but not least, the spectators who come here regularly have my respect. The Zlín Rally has a unique atmosphere, which I personally witnessed two years ago. I am honored to be able to once again patronise this prestigious sporting event, which will be part of the FIA ​​European Championship for the next three years. This is excellent news, because this competition inherently belongs to the Czech Republic," said mr. Havlíček.

In the European Championship even a local heroes can fight for the highest places, which is not possible in the WRC. That makes European competitions, led by the Barum Rally, very specific, so any driver can be the absolute winner. In previous years, Jan Kopecký, an eleven-time winner of the Barum rally, and regional driver Dominik Stříteský, who became czech champion last year, have done very well. Furthermore, this championship is a great opportunity for young junior talents who will gradually work their way up to the highest level of world competitions.

The signing of a three-year contract brings significant economic benefits to the the city of Zlín and the entire Zlín region in the coming years. "Thanks to the promoter, the Barum rally gains global media coverage, with all the rally stages being broadcast live. In addition to the media benefits, economic aspects are very important. It is thanks to the promoter that a very large and high-quality starting field comes to Zlín. This attracts tens of thousands of spectators who have to travel by car, eat somewhere and sleep somewhere. From this point of view, the new three-year contract is not only important for us, but also for the city of Zlín and the Zlín region, and therefore for the whole Czech Republic," said Ing. Jan Regner, rally director.

It is very interesting to look at the most important benefits of last year's Barum Czech Rally Zlín: consumption resulting from organizing and holding is 204 million CZK, sales multiplied by organizing and holding are 390 million, total revenue for public budgets is 86 million, out of every 100 CZK spent by a visitor, 41 CZK goes to public budgets and the accumulation of work done due to organizing created 211 converted full-time jobs. "The most important thing is the irreplaceable revenue to public budgets of 42 million crowns. This amount represents the value that our event will bring, and which would never have been spent in the Czech Republic if this rally had not been held," explained Jan Regner.

The European Championship was founded 72 years ago as the first international competition for rally drivers (1953) and is one of the oldest rally series of the continent. The World Championship series was founded only twenty years later. In 2004, a reorganization took place and only selected rallies that achieved the highest coefficient remained in the ERC series. In recent years, the European Championship calendar has stabilized at eight competitions, half of which are held on gravel and half on tarmac. While the ERC was organized by the television channel Eurosport from 2013 to 2021, in 2022 the German promoter WRC Promoter GmbH took over the management.

The European Championship was won three times by Polish driver Stanislaw Zasada, and his compatriot Kajetan Kajetanowicz. Luca Rossetti from Italy has also the same number of victories. The most successful brand is Lancia with 15 triumphs, Ford has rejoiced eight times. The Czech car manufacturer Škoda has brought drivers to the highest level a total of six times. In the last two years, Hayden Paddon from New Zealand became the European champion in the Hyundai i20 N Rally2.

For more information, visit www.czechrally.com and don't forget to follow Barum rally on social networks, official Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and other press releases.