Barum Rally – Kopecky’s eleventh Barum victory, Paddon 2023 ERC champion

Already holder of 10 victories in this rally, Jan Kopecky was the super favorite at the start of the 7th round of theERC 2023. The Czech driver was faithful to the meeting.

Experienced, the former Skoda official let the storm pass by allowing Filip Mares to shine in qualifying, then by not trying to follow Alexey Lukyanuk or Erik Cais when they moved into the leader's chair. Kopecky heard his time and saw all these one-off contenders fall into line. After taking control of the race during the 2nd loop on Saturday, he immediately broke away in order to approach Sunday calmly.

Counting 14''9 on Miklos Csomos and 28''7 on Simon Wagner, Kopecky could see it coming and that is exactly what the 41-year-old driver set out to do during the 6 SS and 92,40 km timed which were scheduled during this 2nd stage. Letting Erik Cais win the first SS, Kopecky made no mistakes and managed to finish the 52nd edition of the Barum Rally in the lead. This is his 11th success in this event, the 8th in a row.

Able to win the title of European champion at the end of this round, Hayden Paddon thought he had missed this opportunity by tearing off a wheel at the start of the morning. Martins Sesks having failed to score enough points to delay this deadline, Paddon is therefore the first non-European driver to win this award with one race remaining in Hungary (October 7-8).

At the wheel of his Hyundai i20 Rally2 Hayden Paddon is the new 2023 European champion © Red Bull Content Pool

Having only the objective of discovering the rally by competing in all the special stages, Mathieu Franceschi achieved his goal by finishing 9th. In the Junior category, the German Timo Schulz (Opel Corsa) won for the first time this season.

Barum Rally 2023 – Ranking

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