Barum Czech Rally Zlín 2015 [ERC, ERCJ, CZE]

[dimviii]

https://youtu.be/cCvb5ZS8cEA

[dimviii]

[Simmi]

He needs to get to WRC2 as fast as possible imho!

If he can get an R5 then going for the full ERC title might not be a bad move on rallies he knows.

Does anyone know what Emil's actual prize is for winning Junior ERC?

[EightGear]

If he can get an R5 then going for the full ERC title might not be a bad move on rallies he knows.

Does anyone know what Emil's actual prize is for winning Junior ERC?

Last year it was a drive in one rally in a 208 R5. Not sure if that's the same this year and if Opel would be open to that.

[Mirek]

Hi guys! I took an internet free rally so You have to read a lot of text now

Generally I'm really happy with my rally. We took great spots, saw some crazy things, nice and very fast driving and had overall great time. The weather was really hot. Good that the girls don't wear a lot of clothes but for the rally itself it was a little too much. I think there was also less spectators than usually as many did only one stage per day because they were too tired from the sun.

Frankly I haven't yet done any deep study of stage times so You can compare what You know with what I have seen and felt

For QS we took same place as last year but this yeat the stage was reversed. It is a little hill at the entrance of village Pohořelice from which You can see around one kilometer of the stage. The downhill technical section around the farm, then sharp left over a bridge with a cut and following bump into a long right corner at the first house. This year there was for the very first time an anti-cutting pole in the last corner which ruined thew show a little bit. Nevertheless it was still a good place to see differences between the driving styles, lines, braking etc. Shortly after the QS I met a friend telling me that the next corner after us was quite crazy. Maybe next time.

After the QS I took some beers with Friends and went to the hotel for a little refreshment. I fell asleep and woke up only few minutes before the first oldtimers went into the city stage. I came there but still found quite a nice spot. Medium fast S-turns over a speed bump. At the exit there was a pavement on the side of the road which most of the crews cut over. The most crazy driver there was for sure Zawada (probably not the fastest). Pech looked fastest. The historics lost a bit with no crazy Audi for Béreš and overall worse entry list but they were still nice addition. Pity of the problems with drunk spectators. The hot weather probably played a role as the stage had to be three times cut to allow ambulance to go for somebody drunk who fell from a garage etc. I hope nobody was badly hurt. I heard about some broken legs etc.

For stage 2 we took a very fast right hander behind a blind crest with very bad asphalt close to the end of stage Slušovice. Yes, it's the place of Consani's crash. That was pretty crazy place. Already Kopecký had a scary moment there. Lukyanuk went somehow through like if there was a perfect new asphalt. I don't know how he managed to do so. After the accident of Consani which was quite scary there was a lot of people around the car and it was pretty dangerous if somebody else would go off. Me and some friends decided to slow down next few driver before the crest to avoid possible tragedy. I have to give credits to Kajto who stopped at the wreck to check if the crew is ok. After that I contacted the organization and told them that Kajto stopped and that we slowed down several crews and I saw that later they made some little correction to their times. I think it was fair to do so. Originally we wanted to go to stage Maják after few cars but it was so mad that we decided to stay untill national cars. Later there were more big moments. The biggest ones were of Ingram and Kukučka (Slovak driver with Fabia WRC). Also Charles Martin going maybe 160 km/h with a puncture was let's say interesting. There were another crazy moments there in the second run but we chose another place. One curiosity. All four Fabia R5 cars lost side windows on this wicked place. So hard bump it was! By the way the road got there worse and worse every year. Consani was first one ever to crash there...

After that we took a lunch and another nice place on the same stage Slušovice. A long straight following sharp left corner over a bridge with a kicking cut. One of the places I saw already a lot of times as it is very easy to get there, not crowded and spectacular. Kopecký and Pech both avoided to cut at all. Others mostly cut, some were on two wheels (Breen did completely same thing as last year). There were some cars which had broken rear left wheels (I guess from the spectator arena). Some were driving pretty crazy sideways on the straight (Tannert, Bisaha). Addielson's car looked unstable and from the next corner we heard a loud crack sound. He was stopped there for a while. Maybe something already damaged on his suspension broke there.

For the evening we went on stage Maják 2. We went by a small field road to a steep donwhill on a small road just before a hairpin right at the entrance of Oldřichovice village. There was a long straight (rpm limiter for some cars) following a difficult S-corner with a cut over some big bump. Just after that they had to brake heavily into the hairpin. We could see that all from behind and it was pretty crazy again. Kopecký was the most crazy from top drivers there but the real scary moment came again with Ingram whose rear went all in the air and partially sideways. Somehow he managed to keep it on the road. There were huuuuge differences between drivers there.

We started second day with a plan to go on Semetín hills shortly before the well-known spectator jumps. We were surprised that the road up was closed although it has never been and it was even pointed as access road in the program book. I contacted the organization again and I was informed shortly after that the road was finally opened. I don't know what happened, maybe some misunderstanding. Anyway we already went to another place the T-junction from gravel to asphalt just few kilometers later. It wasn't very spectacular. A lot of dust, some nice drifts but it was too slow (I was there in 2007 and remembered it as more spectacular, maybe the time makes some memories nicer than they were). I met there an old friend who was there as an ambulance crew. I didn't know it would take just one hour to see him rushing to the accident of Ingram. I wish the guys speedy recovery!

For the second run we finally went up on Semetín hills. This time we took a place between the well-known jump (Neuville crash 2010) and previous fast downhill over some small crests. It was a nice long overview but it was very clear who is still pushing and who is not (Kopecký). The biggest jump came with Wiegand I think.

From junior drivers I would like to very loudly name Bergkvist. I have to agree with Per. This guy will become a star in the future if he is able to addapt to "big" cars. He was the most impressive driver of the field as he was never looking like on the limit. He was just perfect. No crazy things, no blocking of wheels on brakes, no useless drifts, just great lines and very effecient driving. Griebel was probably closest to him in driving. Ingram was completely crazy and all over the place. Sirmacis was also quite clean and tidy. Anyway again the Opels and their suspension looked unbeatable on our bumpy stages.

How about the overall top? Well, Kopecký looked surprisingly crazy and flamboyant on the first leg. He looked like just cruising through the second day. Pech was like always but it was clear that he can't do more with his Mini. I think that mainly the power gap is now too big. Still his suspension is for sure better than the R5 Škodas (they did a lot of progress though!). Kajto was great. Much better than last year. Very fast, very aggressive and spectacular. Lukyanuk was a nice surprise. One of the best premieres on Barum in last few years. He looked surprisingly clean and precise.

Valoušek showed that he is back in form. I think that he did maximum what he could with a privately run S2000 car. Černý did definitely a lot better rally than during the whole season but there is still a lot to improve. Sometimes he was hesitating, on some stages he was very fast on some quite slow. Breen was not very impressive. Last year he was crazier but also faster. This year he suffered from three punctures but I can't say I would be impressed a lot by his driving. Today it was definitely better than yesterday. It was also clear that Peugeot lacks a lot of power (and I have a feeling that they have really bad anti-lag as the car was really slow from slow corners or hairpins).

Kobus looked faster than his times. It was maybe due to his tyres. For example today on Semetín 1 he was 2-3 seconds ahead of everyone after 4 km but he lost the time towards the finish and was a lot slower on next two stages. Anyway he did quite a good premiere here. Jakeš was doing quite ok but he made several mistakes which cost him a lot of time. I have a strange feeling about both Wiegand and Kristiansen. They looked faster than the times. Especially Wiegand. I don't know if the Hankooks are that bad or how it's possible...

Kostka and Tarabus had bad luck with the new car. They were looking good on stages though. I heard that in both cases the retirement was caused by some stupid little things. I hope Škoda can find all the gremlins to make the privateers happy... and by the way the livery of Tarabus looked stunning!

[Mirek]

Last year it was a drive in one rally in a 208 R5. Not sure if that's the same this year and if Opel would be open to that.

He shall drive Valais in R5 as a prize.

[JUF]

Time to say goodbye to Sepp Wiegand? Barum Rally seems to be the end of his carrier for me... Impressive drive of Emil Bergkvist indeed. On his homepage something like a "fan club" is mentioned where you can sponsor Emil "on his road to World Cup 2016". I hope that he will get the budget for a R5 in ERC or WRC2 - maybe with Skoda when Esapekka Lappi gets a contract with Toyota? Or with Peugeot, because I can´t see any progress from Craig Breen?

[Rallyper]

Pelle where the Adam coming from? Is it a real effort right from Russelheim oder was?
I don't pay any attention to asfalto like DTM or DTCC or even STCC so I wonder how much fabriken själv is involved or if they just "help out"...Kind of wondering if they have longer term plans...

The Adam is an Opel Motorsport Factory car, I don´t know anything else. http://www.opel-motorsport.com/
And Emil has his own site www.emilbergkvist.se (Och du kan ju svenska så... fast naturligtvis en engelsk version också)

[Mirek]

Time to say goodbye to Sepp Wiegand? Barum Rally seems to be the end of his carrier for me... Impressive drive of Emil Bergkvist indeed. On his homepage something like a "fan club" is mentioned where you can sponsor Emil "on his road to World Cup 2016". I hope that he will get the budget for a R5 in ERC or WRC2 - maybe with Skoda when Esapekka Lappi gets a contract with Toyota? Or with Peugeot, because I can´t see any progress from Craig Breen?

Lappi continues with Škoda in 2016 and in 2017 he'll be most likely in VW as No.3 driver.

[dimviii]

http://www.ewrc.cz/ewrc/fotogalery.p...43&fotograf=61