Skoda Motorsport driver Jan Kopecky is the overnight leader in his Skoda Fabia R5 after the first full days running on round seven of the 2015 FIA European Rally Championship, the Czech Barum Rally Zlín. The Czech driver leads the event by 35.4 seconds from last year’s winner Vaclav Pech.
After taking second on the super special stage on Friday night Kopecky won all of Saturdays stages as he aimed to build a gap to the crews behind him. Pech had a solid run through Saturday’s stages and is still right in contention with one leg still to go.
Championship leader Kajetan Kajetanowicz had to stop on stage two at the accident of Robert Consani. The French driver had a major off rolling multiple times after losing it on a bumpy fast left hand bend, both driver and co-driver emerged uninjured. Kajetanowicz ended stage two in fifth overall but that quickly changed as he was straight back on the pace on the next test. The Pole consistently set times in the top four and ended the day third overall just under a minute off the lead.
It was a difficult day for Craig Breen as he suffered thee punctures throughout the day. The Irishman, who is second in the championship standings, ended up taking a cautious approach to most of the day’s stages as the risk of more punctures deterred him from pushing. He ended the day 11th overall.
In ERC 2 David Botka dominated the day’s action in his Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X. The Hungarian driver will head into the final leg with a lead of over a minute over the rest of the class.
In the final round of the ERC Junior series it’s the 2015 champion Emil Bergkvist in the ADAC Opel Rallye Junior Team Adam R2 who leads by 45 seconds from Marijan Griebel. British driver Chris Ingram finished the day ninth after damaging a wheel on stage four.
Six stages greet crews on the final leg of the Barum Rally with the action kicking off with the 11.74 km Semetin 1 stage.
