Barum Rally: Cais best qualifying time, Franceschi 6th

Tracked just a few kilometers from the service park, the shakedown winding around Oldrichovice was divided into two very distinct parts. The start of the special crossed the town in several places, allowing the large public to see the crews in several tight hairpins. What followed was more like what Barum typically offers, namely fast, bumpy roads in the middle of fields and woods.

Already the fastest during his first runs in the morning, Erik Cais moved to the top of the ranking sheet. The former mountain biker will therefore be the first to choose his position on the road tomorrow. Several of his compatriots logically slipped into the top ten with: Filip Mares (Yaris) 4^e, Dominik Stritesky (Fabia) 7^e, Jan Kopecky (Fabia) 8^e and Adam Brezik (Fabia) 9^e. As for cars, the Czech Republic is also well represented with 9 Skoda Fabia RS Rally2s in the top 10. Among them, there is that of Mathieu Franceschi and Andy Malfoy.

For his 2^e participation in this event, the Varois is looking for points to continue to close the gap on Hayden Paddon (7 points). Already on a good pace, the driver who is supported by Michelin distinguished himself better than his rival by ranking 6^e while the New Zealander did not manage to exceed 11^e rank. Mathieu will have to use this advantage to choose the best place in the starting order.

The first stage is 112,47 km long. It is divided into 9 special stages, including SS1 (9,57 km) which will take place this evening in the streets of Zlin in front of a still very dense crowd.