So... Kopecký will not keep winning Czech events until his retirement. The final number of the winning streak is 24 events.
Anyway rather difficult rally, especially the first leg with the strong rain in the night. As You might remember usually there are few retirements among the R5 drivers in our events. Here three of fourteen crashed (Jakeš, Štochl, Trojan and all of them on the same stage Koráb). Dohnal with Focus WRC also went off and suprise, surprise, on the same stage. He got back on the road after eight minutes but after that retired anyway. Trněný sat back into Fabia WRC and retired with broken gearbox already on the first stage.
From the sporting point of view Kopecký was massively faster in the night rainy stages (he was also lucky with the moment when the rain started). Especially his crazy time from SS6 is worth mentioning (17,5 s faster than the second driver Mareš), but, but... again he picked a puncture. This time he lost too much time to recover. If the rally was two stages longer he may have won anyway but that's not important. Pech was initially maybe a bit slower than expected but when he got the chance he took it. Nevertheless Mareš gave him a good fight and later also to recovering Kopecký. I dare to say it was Mareš's best performance so far. Hopefully there is more to come. Kopáček started slower but in the end also he picked a very good speed. Both of these guys step by step overtook Černý who was initially ahead of them. Simon Wagner crushed the 2WD opposition. Janota was the fastest GT driver.
1. Pech (Fiesta R5) 1:32:19,0 (5 sec penalty for a chicane)
2. Kopecký (Fabia R5) +12,7 (lost 1:36 with a puncture)
3. Mareš (Fabia R5) +18,3
4. Kopáček (Fabia R5) +53,0 (5 sec penalty for a chicane)
5. Černý (Fabia R5) +1:05,9 (lost around 20-30 seconds with engine issue on SS6)
6. Štajf (Polo R5) +1:51,3
7. Odložilík (Fabia R5) +2:41,8 (5 sec penalty for a chicane)
8. Březík (Fabia R5) +2:44,3 (10 sec penalty for a jump start)
9. Hrobský (Evo IX gr.N) +8:52,7 ((5 sec penalty for a chicane)
10. Kalista (Evo VI gr.A) +9:08,2 (lost roughly 3 minutes with an accident)
11. Wagner (Adam R2) +9:18,9 (1st 2WD)
12. Janota (997 GT3) +9:42,8 (1st GT)
SS wins: Kopecký 10, Dohnal 2, Pech 1, Kopáček 1
Historic Rallye Vltava was a true one man show of Luigi "Lucky" Battistolli and Fabrizia Pons (Lancia Delta Integrale). They won by 2,5 minutes over Vlastimil Neumnann (Escort Cosworth) in overall classification and by more than three minutes over Karl Wagner (Porsche 911 SC) in the ERC classification. Also this event saw plenty of retirements.
1. Lucky (Delta Integrale) 1:27:50,5 (one long stage was canceled for historics)
2. Neumann (Escort Cosworth) +2:33,6
3. Wagner (911 SC) +3:09,2
4. Silvasti (Lancia 037) +3:14,3
5. Káňa (Sierra Cosworth) +6:26,8
6. Veikkanen (911 SC) +7:11,6
7. Kirvesmäki (Corolla GT) +7:16,2 (congratulations Jeppe!)
8. Klik (Lada VFTS) +8:34,8
9. Mekler (Alfa Romeo 1750 GTAm) +8:58,7
10. Krejča (Škoda 130 LR) +9:06,6