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Vlastimil Neumann wins Star Rally Historic for the fourth time!

17. 8. 2025 - David Štícha

The starting field of the 17th STAR RALLY HISTORIC 2025 has completed Sunday's leg. Vlastimil Neumann and his co-driver Martin Hlavatý took their fourth overall victory in this competition in a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III, gradually increasing their lead over Jiří Hanák and Michal Večerka in a BMW M3 during the day. Martin Klepáč and Ivan Říhánek kept the third position in their Peugeot 306 S16.

The first special stage awaiting the competitors on Sunday was the fast Kateřinice stage. It was won by Vlastimil Neumann, who was eight hundredths of a second faster than Martin Černý and Jiří Haferník in a BMW M3, who were trying to catch up after losing time on Saturday's leg. Vlastimil Neumann also dominated the second special stage - the first and only passage of the legendary Pindula by the historic cars. Martin Černý was again the second fastest. Although he lost eight seconds to the winner, he gained valuable time on his other rivals and moved up to eighth place overall.

Černý continued his fast pace and won the third Sunday's stage in Podhoran, which moved him up to the sixth place. On the other hand, Jan Hráček and Tomáš Kretík dropped down the rankings after losing two minutes to the winner in Podhoran, falling from fourth place to eighth.

 

Černý closed his amazing chase with a win in the last special stage, which was the second passing through Kateřinice. In the overall standings, he is only 30 seconds behind Martin Klepáč in third place, who defended his podium position despite losing 41 seconds to the winner. Second place at Kateřinice went again to Vlastimil Neumann, who simply controlled his lead over Jiří Hanák.

Neumann and Černý proved their speed on Sunday and did not let any other competitor take the top two places in Sunday's special stages. Twenty competing crews reached the finish line of the 17th Star Rally Historic, entertaining the spectators at the special stages with their driving skills and legendary historic cars. Vlastimil Neumann scored his fourth victory in the Star Rally Historic, returning to the finish line of this competition after two years marked by technical issues. The winner of the 2023 edition, Jiří Hanák, finished second with a loss of 2 minutes and 37 seconds. Martin Klepáč completed the podium with a total loss of 4 minutes and 47 seconds.

17th STAR RALLY HISTORIC 2025 – final standings:
1. V. Neumann, M. Hlavatý (CZE, Mitsubishi Lancer Evo III) 1:18:24,3 hod
2. J. Hanák, M. Večerka (CZE, BMW M3) + 2:37,3 min
3. M. Klepáč, I. Říhánek (CZE, Peugeot 306 S16) + 4:47,9 min
4. M. Černý, J. Haferník (CZE, BMW M3) + 5:17,9 min
5. J. Kašpar, P. Adámek (CZE, Škoda 130 LR) + 5:20,7 min
6. M. Knížek, P. Šlegl (CZE, BMW 318 iS) + 5:48,2 min
7. P. Pavlát, V. Trnka (CZE, Toyota Celica GT Four) + 6:39,3 min
8. J. Hráček, T. Kretík (CZE, Lada VFTS) + 7:15,2 min
9. P. Janský, L. Vaněčka (CZE, BMW M3) + 8:14,1 min
10. M. Neoral, T. Kocour (CZE, Škoda Favorit 136 L) + 10:33,3 min

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