Barum Czech Rally Zlín 2017

[sete]

Yes,Kostka is mainly circuit driver,but also achieved some great result czech rally.He drives Barum every year.
you can check his results
https://www.ewrc-results.com/profile/3662-tomas-kostka/

[Jarek Z]

Grzegorz Dachowski, the co-driver of Aleks Zawada, has shown his souvenirs from the visit in Czech Republic - Kofola, Lentilky and the trophies
(most probably only people from eastern Europe will understand the joke)
https://scontent-frx5-1.xx.fbcdn.net...99&oe=5A193E4E

[Jarek Z]

Not only I was impressed with Roman Kresta's speed:
https://www.fiaerc.com/kresta-earns-...-stage-charge/

[Mirek]

Huge crisis of Suarez from the last stage (1,5 km before finish): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_lMiKlEj3o

You can't see that very well from the video but he missed huge log just by few centimeters. I was there and I have to say that I was sure he is going to have a brutal crash but somehow he managed to avoid the log.

Big moment of Valoušek from Semetín: https://youtu.be/Otial34ZUdI?t=45

[Mirek]

For me it was a really nice edition despite the route being shortened a bit due to the issue with swine fever. We saw all what we planned and had no issues at all anywhere. I was on no official spectator places but I felt quite relaxed everywhere we were. For sure much more than last year. Except last stage we also managed to get "up to the tape" with a car without some long walk. We took it a bit easier to see more competitors also due to the fact that one guy from our group is preparing to enter Adam cup next year so he wanted to see the cup on stages. I also did quite a lot of visits to the service to have a chat with some crews and people even mid-day.

For sure You'll see nearly all of my places on videos in next days but anyway some short summary (I guess that Dimviii would not have a good sleep without it ).

QS
I spent first FP on the bridge over the river to see heavy braking after a long straight into a dirty S-corner. Close tot he road it was not bad for the starter. After that we moved into the forest in a very steep uphill section with dirty and deep cuts. This was a nice place to see. Erdi, Bouffier, Štajf and some other crews had some wild moments. Lukyanuk and Huttunen looked incredibly fast.

City stage
Again on a bridge over the river. You can see very long section where they come on a wide road in a hugely long flat out left corner in high speed (likely the place with the highest top speed on city stage) to brake heavily into the square junction right on the railway crossing to take another junction right (at the start) and accelerate into long straight to another lap. It's quite good place and I did it already in the past. The advantage is that You don't need to be there for whole day to see something like on the bus station but of course the atmosphere is not that good. I have to say I really liked Madsen with his kit car there

SS2 Biskupice
We took a fast downhill section in 2/3 of the stage where there is a fast right hand corner with a great cut over a bump which kicks the cars in the air in high speed. You have a long overview with following near straight and medium but difficult right hand corner over a crest. That was really nice place with craziest stuff from Koči in the first corner and Huttunen in the second. Some cars were set so soft that they hit the road by sumpguard after the cut (Valoušek for example).

SS4 Troják
We arrived last minute into not that great section in the downhill to Vlčková village but it was better than expected (we went there purely from time reasons) as the road gets bumpier and bumpier every year. Heavy braking over the bumps into a square left corner was spectacular. Many cars only on front wheels or with smoke from the tyres. Pech went off in the meadow with a minor loss.

SS6 Biskupice
We returned to the place from first run as we really liked it and also wanted to meet some friends there. It was nice again. This time we stayed till the last Adam cup cars and we saw several big moments from late runners (for example several gr.N drivers around No. 100). Since Březová was cut to the spectator circuit alone we skipped it and went to the service instead.

SS11 Pindula
That was a bit of a gamble but I decided to try one corner on the wide smooth road roughly 5 km into the stage. It was a fast left hander behind a small crest with very fast approach (based on onboard the speed in the corner was around 150-160 km/h). We were discussing if somebody can do the corner totally flat out without lifting or braking. Yes, it was possible but only Kresta did it for the cost of a bit of hi-speed drifting. Some drivers took completely wrong lines like Botka or Vlček and You could also see how circuit drivers take a bit of different approach on such road (less aggression, braking earlier and turning in earlier to be faster out). This place was also showing big difference between Fabia and Fiesta suspension-vise. The Fabias were all soft (some even softer like the one of Valoušek) and high and in such corner they didn't look very stable. Fiestas were like stuck to the ground and very stable.

SS15 Košíky
I took the crazy jump 1,5 km before the finish which is shown on the video of Suarez's big moment. Before the start I met a friend who was taking video there in the first run. He told me that compared to last year this time nothing happened there. I was a bit hesitating but I stayed as I was never there before. It was good decision as the second run was very spectacular with a lot of jumps and this massive moment of Suarez. Big difefrence between Kostka and Kresta there. Kostka very wide and all over the place (he said he had a slow puncture), Kresta absolutely perfect line without any sort of drift or useless movement.


Few words to the drivers. Hats off to Lukyanuk. He didn't look well at all and it was hot as hell which also for sure didn't help him. Kopecký even said that Alex had to sometimes brake by right foot! I spoke with Pavel Dresler about Semetín 1 and he told me they could maybe drive 1-2 seconds faster but definitely not 6 as Alex did.

As for Kopecký he did perfect job but as I was told they were among the lucky guys who didn't get puncture from Troják 2 despite they also cracked a rim there just like many others. Kopecký by the way said in an interview that next year he wants to finally drive full WRC2 be it with or without Škoda works team.

Man of the rally for most of the locals was for sure Roman Kresta. There was really an incredible support for him felt everywhere. He did a flawless rally with great speed and it's great that in the end the penalty for being stopped by the police on the road section didn't decide the fight for the podium.

Kostka did very well just like always but he suffered with setup and tyres in the first leg. Only second day he was happy with the car. By the way Kresta was on Michelin, Kostka on Pirelli.

Pech was pushing like hell trying to catch Lukyanuk and Kopecký but that resulted in quite a lot of mistakes. Bouffier drove well but imho the car was what kept him down. Obviously not the latest evolution of the engine for example. Griebel was driving very smooth and tidy. Kajto didn't look slow but not crazy as well. Černý way too brutal. Moffet or Suarez were very flamboyant but a bit too much. Gryazin was surprisingly near invisible. U27 was sadly decided too early by crashes and punctures but before Huttunen was superfast, Zawada all over the place, Mareš very smooth and tidy and Ingram very aggressive.

In the end I would like to point out that the young guys shall work really hard on themselves when retired or part-time drivers like Kresta or Kostka beat them so easily. Anyway looking forward to next year!

[Mirek]

Crash of Szeja on Semetín: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOxBB_XdvuA

Big crash of Landa on Pinula (he had RF slow puncture): https://youtu.be/N0O-XfR1vlg?t=237

Pech's off on Troják on onboard: https://youtu.be/TRyObHp4fL8?t=190

[Mirek]

Fun fact...

Hänninen went off twice on Barum (never retired due to that). Both cases happened on SS Troják. Lappi crashed twice on Barum, both cases on SS Troják. Huttunen crashed also on Troják and even in the same village as Lappi in 2014 (and 2-3 km from Lappi's place from 2013). Nikara crashed once on Barum and it was also on SS Troják even though on a different variant.

The Finns crash always only on one and only stage of the rally.

[RS]

As for Kopecký he did perfect job but as I was told they were among the lucky guys who didn't get puncture from Troják 2 despite they also cracked a rim there just like many others. Kopecký by the way said in an interview that next year he wants to finally drive full WRC2 be it with or without Škoda works team.

Interesting. He has certainly been underused these last couple of years. He must be getting bored with lack of competition in the Czech Championship and it would be nice to add to his domestic, ERC and APRC titles.

[Mirek]

There is nothing to win in Czech championship for them anymore. Either they win and everybody says they choose easy fight with privateers or they don't win and everybody says they are useless. Believe me that they know it as well and they don't have time to wait any longer.

[liposh]

I have got feeling there won´t be any Skoda works team in WRC2 next year. Maybe Kopecky with half factory support, but no actual Skoda works team. Just my feeling but we will see.