Barum Rally: Jan Kopecky leads at the end of the first stage

As is traditional, the Barum began with a night-time special stage through the streets of Zlin. Located 300 km southeast of the capital Prague, this small town is literally transformed for this event, hosting the service park and the night-time stage, which once again took place in an electric atmosphere. Scheduled for Saturday, the rest of the stage consisted of three sections that had to be run twice. The total represented 3 km against the clock.

Under the sun and on roads covered as always with a layer of dust, the battle for the lead smiled on Jan Kopecky (Fabia RS). Knowing the special stages perfectly with already 11 successes on this terrain, the former official Skoda driver had preferred to ensure a place in the top 5 during the qualification to benefit from some tracks, then he had crossed the evening obstacle without making a mistake (2^e). In broad daylight, Kopecky won SS2 (tied with Cais) and SS3. Less inspired in the new Bunč (pronounced "bunch"...), he allowed his rivals to close in. The first was Andrea Mabellini (Fabia RS). One of the main contenders for the title in ERC first won SS1 and then he showed aggression to reach the halfway point of the stage with only 1''2 behind the leader. The Italian was tied with Simon Wagner (i20). The two men were ahead of a group of three competitors who were still thinking about the podium with Jon Armstrong (Fiesta) at 3''1, Erik Cais (i20) at 4''4 and Filip Mares (Yaris) at 8''2. It was then surprising to find Mikolaj Marczyk (Fabia RS) in 7^e rank. The ERC leader was unhappy with his driving and was already 18 seconds behind. It was, however, less serious than for Dominik Stritesky. Guilty of an excursion off the road on SS2, the 3 winner damaged three wheels and was forced to retire for the day, forgetting his dreams of a one-two finish.

Maintaining his morning pace, Jan Kopecky only lost 0 seconds in SS1 and then won the next stage, demonstrating that at 5 he is not ready for retirement yet. Approaching the final section with a lead of 43 seconds, the Opočno native put in an excellent performance in Bunč 3, where he distanced his nearest rival by 9 seconds. Jan finished the day with a 2 second lead over the second-placed rider.^e and can believe in a 12^e victory. Although still determined, Mabellini could not prevent Wagner from overtaking him on SS6 while Cais and Armstrong also closed in. The Italian was consistent, but he was unable to contain Armstrong who was impressive on Bunč 2 where he took 2^e rank behind Kopecky. This place should have been that of Simon Wagner who was even taking the lead in SS6 when a puncture sent him hitting the embankment. The Austrian is still 4th^e, but he is now 19'' behind the leader. Seeking to adopt a different type of riding, Marczyk set the best time in the first time trial, but again lost precious seconds in the next two, which prevented him from moving up the rankings. The Pole finds himself 7^e 23 seconds behind Mabellini, his rival for the title. Given the small gaps between the top ten, the final stage, 3 km long with 100,90 SS including the dreaded Pindula, promises to be even more suspenseful.

Ranking at the end of the first stage