Dennis Zeťák and his hat trick at the Barum Czech Rally Zlín Online

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11. 8. 2025 - Jakub Hofbauer

At midnight on Sunday, August 3, the fifth BARUM CZECH RALLY ZLÍN ONLINE reached its finish line. And once again, it offered a drama similar to that of the last year. Slovak driver Dennis Zeťák ultimately celebrated victory, completing a winning hat trick after triumphs in the first two years. Before the final stage, however, things looked better for Štěpán Paulát, who ultimately finished second with a minimal loss of 3.4 seconds after Zeťák's final attack. Pavel Steiner took third place, less than a minute behind the winner, securing his first placing among the top three.

The second stage of the virtual Barum Rally consisted of a total of eight special stages with a total length of 79.6 km. The very first stage, Kameňák, which will be part of the Podhoran special stage in the real Barum Rally, delivered a key moment when Zeťák damaged the suspension of his Toyota GR Yaris Rally 2 during a minor excursion off the track and struggled with unpredictable handling throughout the entire long section with three other stages. "I started the second stage with a 13-second lead over Paulát in second place, so I told myself there was no need to rush. Unfortunately, I damaged the left front wheel in a hairpin on the very first stage. This caused strong vibrations in the steering wheel, and it was difficult to turn into right-hand corners," Zeťák describes the dramatic start. "I started losing time and my lead no longer seemed so comfortable. Then I made a mistake on the first pass through Semetín, where I took one of the corners too widely and got spun around on the narrow road. At that point, I thought the race was lost. Fortunately, I managed to repair the car in the service area and told myself that I would go all out and either crash or win. I slowly closed the gap on Paulát until the final stage, before which I was 0.5 seconds behind. I pushed hard on the last stage, won it by 4 seconds, and won the competition for the third time. It was dramatic until the very end, reminding me of last year, when I lost by 0.6 seconds and ended up third. I'm really happy about this victory, it was very close and I'm glad I won this competition for the third time."

Štěpán Paulát defended his 2024 victory in a Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, but the first stage did not go as well as he had hoped, so he pinned all his hopes on the second part of the rally. He completed all eight special stages at a high pace and without hesitation, but even Zeťák's problems did not help him to win. "I drove great from the start, the special stages went smoothly, and the pace was significantly better than in the first leg. At one point, I even reached first place. In the end, however, the last stage was decisive again. I'm happy with second place this year, and after an unsuccessful first leg, I'm satisfied with the result. But I'm already looking forward to next year, when I'll try to fight a little harder," said Štěpán Paulát, assessing the second leg.

For the third-place driver, Pavel Steiner, in another Yaris, the virtual Barum Rally went exactly the opposite way to Paulát. While he did well in the first leg, he struggled in the second one, and until the end he was worried that Tomáš Buriánek, who was getting closer, would overtake him. In the end, he managed to stay ahead, even though his original lead of more than half a minute shrunk to just eight seconds. "I hadn't planned on participating in this year's Barum Rally at all, but in the end, it worked out at the last minute. However, there wasn't much time left for any major preparations. I had technical problems in the first leg, but even so, I was surprisingly third overall after the first day. Ján Kundlák and the other guys weren't far behind me, so it was clear that we were in for a tough battle the next day. My goal was to stay ahead of them. However, the guys made a few mistakes in the second leg, and I managed to stay third. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough for more this year, as Paulis and Dennis were really fast and there was no realistic chance of keeping up with them. Nevertheless, after returning to the Rally2 category and with this result, I am really satisfied considering the competition. Many thanks to the organizers for a great competition," said Pavel Steiner, assessing his participation in the virtual Barum Rally.

There was no lack of drama and balanced performances in the other classes either. The RC3 category was dominated this year by the newly permitted "small" Rally3 4WDs, with the fastest, a Renault Clio, belonging to František David. Stanislav Juřica (Ford Fiesta) was 14 seconds slower, and Jaroslav Pohl lost another quarter of a minute, yet he failed the final inspection, so the bronze ultimately went to Libor Tomeček with another Renault. Jan Morávek traditionally excelled among the R-GT supercars, outshining second-placed Jakub Fröhlich (both Porsche 911 GT3) by six and a half minutes and even managing to fight his way to ninth place in the overall standings. Third place went to Slovakia's Jozef Mydliar in an Alpine A110 Rally RGT, just like last year. In the front-wheel drive RC4 class, the victory went to Slovakia, with Mário Juhás (Renault Clio Rally4) finishing first ahead of local drivers Jindřich Španěl and Tomáš Prošek (both Peugeot 208 Rally4). Juhás also closes the top ten in the overall standings. In the last class, RC5, all three spots on the podium belong to one type of car, specifically the Renault Clio Rally5. The fastest was driven by Lukáš Ciprys, Maxim Kahánek finished second with a larger gap, and Dalibor Hudeček finished third.

The award ceremony for the best drivers in each class and the overall standings will take place on the starting ramp of the 54th Barum Czech Rally Zlín on Náměstí Míru square in Zlín on August 15, 2025, starting at 3:15 p.m.

Barum Czech Rally Zlín Online 2025 – final standings