ERC
Březík edging narrow Zlín ERC battle
A huge fight is in store in the race to win the 55th Barum Czech Rally Zlín with 13.1sec covering the top four crews on yet another all-action FIA European Rally Championship counter.
Heading into Sunday’s deciding leg of six stages, Hankook-equipped Škoda driver Adam Březík leads the sealed-surface event with an advantage of 9.7sec over Michelin-supplied Miko Marczyk, the defending ERC champion.
Pirelli’s championship leader, Teemu Suninen, is third, 1.6sec behind Marczyk, after he demoted Lancia-powered Andrea Mabellini on SS7, the day-closing Bunč stage.
Miko Marczyk was consistent throughout Saturday
© At World
Mabellini completed leg one 13.1sec behind Březík in fourth, which means the season-long ERC title contenders are just 3.4sec apart.
“I’m really happy to be here because it was like trying to survive on the gravel,” said Březík, a reference to the gravel section of Bunč. “There was a lot of, lot of stones and some rough places, so yeah, I'm really happy to be here.”
Březík moved into the lead by winning SS4, the first run through the hugely demanding Bunč forest stage. But Marczyk kept closing during the afternoon and narrowed Březík’s first-place margin to 0.8sec by winning the day’s penultimate test.
Teemu Suninen was on a charge on Saturday afternoon
© At World
But local ace Březík responded with a time through Bunč that only Suninen managed to beat, albeit by 1.8sec. That performance from the Finn, who is competing in Zlín for the first time, relegated and overly cautious Mabellini from third to fourth as Marczyk dropped precious seconds in the battle for victory.
Filip Mareš should have been part of the lead battle heading into Sunday having started Saturday’s finale 2.4sec off the lead. But the Toyota driver dropped more than 30sec after he picked up front-right tyre damage in Bunč.
Filip Mareš was caught out by front-right tyre damage
© At World
The former Junior ERC1 champion had earlier moved into the lead by winning SS3 only to lose time when he slowed responding to a faulty in-car alert on SS4. Mareš reached the overnight halt in sixth place behind the impressive Jakub Matulka, 33.4sec adrift of Březík.
“I don’t know what happened, probably some stone in the gravel part,” Mareš said. “We just had bad luck, but it’s like that, we will get ready for tomorrow, and we will push even more.”
Jan Kopecký was also in the victory fight after the 2013 ERC champion completed SS5 1.1sec shy of Březík in second. But a disastrous SS6 wrecked the Czech legend’s bid for a record-extending 13th Barum Czech Rally Zlín victory. “A stone came into the rim and broke the rim from the inside and also damaged the brake pipes,” he explained.
Home hero Erik Cais is seventh for Team MRF Tyres, one place ahead of team-mate Simone Tempestini, who lost time with a damaged rear spoiler on SS3.
Jan Kopecký was hamstrung by a Saturday puncture
© At World
Simon Wagner, who overshot a junction on SS3, is ninth with Václav Pech 10th after the veteran multiple Zlín winner was slowed by tyre damage and a trip through a ditch on the same stage where Wagner hit trouble.
Jaromír Tarabus, who is making his 25th Barum Czech Rally Zlín start, is 11th followed by Roberto Blach, Gábor Német, Martin Vlček and Andrei Gîrtofan.
William Creighton and co-driver Liam Regan were taken to hospital after an accident on SS4. While Creighton’s visit was for precautionary checks, Regan is expected to require a longer stay while he recovers to full health.
The first of two runs through the 18.01-kilometre Pindula stage is up first tomorrow (Sunday) with the action due to get under way at 07:58 local time.
