Jan Kopecky got hot at the Barum Rally

At the end of the two stages of the Barum Rally Zlin, Jan Kopecky won another victory in his national event. Skoda signs the hat-trick with the second place of Freddy Loix and the third position of Juho Hänninen, but the three contenders for victory will have engaged in an intense fight until the last special of the rally, where Freddy Loix failed just 1,2 seconds behind the winner.

Jan Kopecky confirms that the leaders were in full attack in this event by adopting a particularly high pace. “We were proud to be at the finish because the pace was very sustained”, explains the Czech after crossing the finish line. “We lost almost 20 seconds in the first loop but we recovered to take the lead by just a second, which was enough to take the victory. The fight was really very intense but we managed it. »

Jan Kopecky returns to three points behind leader Juho Hänninen, who narrowly retains the lead in the IRC Championship with third place, with the top three in the rally occupying the top three places in the Drivers' standings. “This victory is very important for us and also very important for Skoda which takes the first three places”, insists Jan Kopecky. ?Victory was easier in 2009 because we had a one-minute lead. But this year?s edition proved much more difficult. »

Find the report on the Barum Rally Zlin in the next issue of AUTOhebdo, on sale from Wednesday.