ERC – Stříteský in front come rain or shine in Zlín epic

Dominik Stříteský has completed Barum Czech Rally Zlín’s dramatic opening leg on course for his maiden FIA European Rally Championship victory as Jan Kopecký’s bid for a record-extending 12th win on his home ERC counter hit the rocks.

The 2013 European champion was 0.7sec behind Stříteský, the current leader of the Czech championship, starting SS5 but dropped back to 15th overall with a deflated front-left tyre.

“There was something in the line and I hit it, there was straight away a puncture and I had to change it and our change was quite slow,” Škoda-powered Kopecký said.

Stříteský, who shot from third to first on SS4 despite brake issues on SS2, completed SS5 with a slowly deflating front-left tyre but with a 10.1sec lead over the charging Erik Cais.

Despite starting Saturday’s action with a 20sec time penalty, Michelin-equipped Cais fought his way into contention with five consecutive fastest stage times to the extent he was 4.2sec behind Stříteský after SS7, Kateřinice.

But with torrential rain falling on Rajnochovice and hard-compound tyres fitted to his Fabia RS Rally2, Cais was powerless to prevent a substantial time loss. He took 41.9sec longer than Stříteský to complete the 13.19km test and slipped from second to fourth overall as a result.

“It was like driving with summer tyres on snow,” the dejected Cais said at the completion of SS8, where Kopecký lost more time with a high-speed off.

While Simon Wagner benefitted from a cross pattern of wet and dry Michelin tyres for the rain-hit SS8, Stříteský excelled with dry-weather Hankook tyres, going 3.5sec quicker than Wagner to reach SS9 leading by 21.1sec.

“Erik was flying and we couldn’t do anything more to but there is still a long way to go,” Stříteský said. “I tried to be calm because the most important thing for us is the points in the Czech championship.”

With SS9 cancelled for safety reasons due to the weather, Stříteský leads opening-stage winner Wagner with Adam Březík third, a slender 0.2sec ahead of Cais.

Březík charged to the top of the Barum Czech Rally Zlín leaderboard with the fastest time on Saturday morning’s opening test, Březová, to hold a margin of 1.6sec over Kopecký.

Although Kopecký was 1.1sec faster than Březík on SS3, the younger Czech driver remained in front by 0.5sec starting SS4. But an off-road moment cost him vital seconds and he completed the test with the front-right tyre off the rim, 13.5sec behind new leader Stříteský.

“The first stage everything was good, on the next one I was a little bit careful and we lose some time but on the third one, everything was going well until we had the puncture,” Březík said. “I hit something in the grass, I don’t know what but after I go out of the road. Then I was too fast on the brakes in a left corner [on SS5] so I have to turn more and I spin. I am fighting for the top so we have to push at the maximum level.”

Behind Cais (below), Filip Mareš is fifth with Mathieu Franceschi on course to claim the ERC points lead in sixth place after Hayden Paddon was forced to change two damaged tyres on SS8.

Efrén Llarena is seventh following a high-speed spin into a ditch on SS5 with Miko Marczyk eighth after his Fabia lost rear-wheel drive on the same stage.

Hermann Neubauer is ninth followed by the recovering Kopecký and two-time Zlín winner Václav Pech. Martin László is 12th with ex-circuit racer Aleš Jirásek 13th, Albert von Thurn und Taxis 14th and Jarosław Kołtun rounding out the points-paying positions.

Filip Kohn (Ford Fiesta Rally3) heads the FIA ERC3 classification with Patrik Herczig on top in FIA ERC4 driving a Peugeot 208 Rally4.

The 53rd running of Barum Czech Rally Zlín concludes tomorrow (Sunday) with two loops of three stage over a competitive distance of 81.12 kilometres. The action begins with the legendary Semetín stage from 08:23 local time. The Halenkovice Power Stage is due to get under way at 16:05.