Hungary-bound Cais will never stop being hungry in ERC

After tyre damage denied him a shot at victory on Barum Czech Rally Zlín, his home round of the ERC, earlier this month, the 24-year-old said “the hunger is there” to try again in the future.

“We showed really good speed [on day two of the rally], there was not so much space to improve,” said Cais, who set four fastest stage times in his Yacco ACCR Team Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. “Sure there is always space to improve, but in my point of view I am happy about the speed.

“Definitely it was not an easy rally and I am a little bit sad about what happened [on day one] but that’s it, that’s Barum and we need to keep trying in the next years. The hunger is there.”

Asked whether he could have prevented local legend Jan Kopecký from taking an 11th Zlín win had it not been for his delays on leg one, Cais said: “Definitely you have this in mind, but you can’t take back what happened, never ever. I will lose these things in mind very quickly because the result is what we finished with and now it’s time to focus on the next rallies. What happened, happened and it’s good momentum for the future because what happened shouldn’t have happened.”

Cais is set to contest the ERC season-deciding Rally Hungary from 6 - 8 October ahead of the FIA World Rally Championship-counting Central European Rally, which starts in his capital city, Prague, on 26 October and includes a day of running in Czech Republic on 27 October.