Václav Pech and co-driver Petr Uhel have won Barum Czech Rally Zlín for the second time to end ŠKODA’s domination of the FIA European Rally Championship qualifier.
ŠKODA has won the event for four seasons on the bounce but Pech’s success in his MINI John Cooper Works S2000 breaks that long-running sequence.
Pech, who became Czech champion for a seventh time by winning Saturday’s leg, claims his first win in the ERC since its restructuring in 2004. He also makes it seven different winners from eight rounds of this year’s ERC.
Sepp Wiegand beat Tomáš Kostka to the runner-up spot by 0.2s in a thrilling finish. Kostka had been in front after 13 stages but an engine problem on his Ford Fiesta R5 for the final two stages slowed him down and allowed Wiegand to get back ahead.
Wiegand was unhappy after being delayed behind Robert Consani’s slowing Peugeot 207 S2000 on stage 14 but his second-place finish means he closes the gap to team-mate Esapekka Lappi in the race to become European champion. Lappi, who crashed out on Saturday, restarted on leg two and won the rally’s final stage, the 21.41 kilometres of Kudlovice.
Jaroslav Orsák just did enough to keep Jaromír Tarabus at bay in the battle for what became fourth place after they both moved ahead of Kajetan Kajetanowicz on the final stage. Click here for live results, text commentary and ERC Rally Radio.
