Barum Czech Rally Zlín 

Hear from the leading crews after the qualifying special stage

15. 8. 2025 - Vojtěch Gargulák

The first competitive kilometers of the 54th BARUM CZECH RALLY ZLÍN 2025 are over for the crews competing in the European Rally Championship with ERC1 priority. On Friday morning, they completed the qualifying special stage Komárov, which determined the starting order for Saturday's leg. The first to set off on Saturday will be the winner of the qualifying stage, Czech driver Dominik Stříteský, who was 7 tenths of a second faster than second-placed Italian Andrea Mabellini. Third place went to Polish driver Miko Marczyk. After arriving at the service zone in Otrokovice, we asked the leading crews for their fresh emotions and expectations.

Miko Marczyk (POL, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, number 1):
"The car is feeling good. The rally will be very demanding. We are in good shape this season and I hope it will be a good race for us."

Andrea Mabelini (ITA, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, number 2):
"The feeling is great, now we wait for the Czech rockets. I think they can beat my time, but it is okay, because I don´t want to start first tomorrow. Hope somebody will start in front of me"

Jon Armstrong (IRL, Ford fiesta Mk II Rally2, number 4):
"It's quite cool that a lot of stages are on RBR and for sure you can do tonight's stage and stage number 3. It's a good way to train and whenever you don't do so much testing, it's good to warm up your muscle memory and the stages are really detailed."

Mile Johansson (SWE, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, number 5):
"We did some changes to the setup of the car for the qualifying stage and I didn't have the same performance in the brakes. I felt that when I came into the chicane. The car slowed later even though I braked earlier than before."

Jakub Matulka (POL, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, number 7):
"It's nice to get going. The qualifying stage was really long and fast but still beautiful. We enjoyed it and I think we did a good job. We will start around 5th place. Good position for these kinds of roads. The guys will clear the rocks for us."

Dominik Stříteský (CZE, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, number 9):
"We did well in qualifying, so let's see how the Czech guys do. They're just about to hit the track and they will be very fast. It would be better for us to start third, but we'll see."

Simon Wagner (AUT, Hyundai i20 N Rally2, number 10):
"It's going to be a very tricky weekend, but we are well prepared. The weather looks very sunny and hot and that's good for us. Can't wait to start the rally."

Martin Vlček (CZE, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, number 14):
"We are pleased right now. We did the settings one to one to our Hyundai. The car is going well. I have to commend Škoda. They have a really beautiful car."

Filip Mareš (CZE, Toyota GR Yaris Rally2, number 15):
"The feeling is great, we had a nice ride. It's fast from the start, but we expected that. Now it's important to prepare well for tonight, Saturday, and Sunday."

Jan Kopecký (CZE, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, number 16):
"Qualifying is of course important but we are at the beginning. We are fifth right now, so I am pleased with that. It will be very hot so I hope I will lose some weight."

Erik Cais (CZE, Hyundai i20 N Rally 2, number 17):
"We have very mixed feelings. We did not manage to get faster during the qualifying and the time is bad. To be honest, our starting position for the Saturday leg is really not that good. All the more reason to try harder."

Adam Březík (CZE, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, number 18):
"From my point of view I would say the qualifying went really well for us. If the times stay like this, then we will happily start from the 6th place. I wouldn't want to start in the first three. We are happy and we'll see what happens tomorrow and on Sunday."

Christopher Ingram (GBR, Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, number 19):
"It's great to be back in Zlín. I love this rally, I love these people. It feels a bit strange, for the first time after nine months to sit in a race car but it's going well and we are enjoying it."