Matulka, making his first ERC start of
2024, was 19.2sec behind Eamonn Kelly starting Sunday’s second stage after the
opening test had been halted when Rally2 contenders Keith Cronin and Chris
Ingram crashed out.
But when Kelly crashed on SS12, leading to
another stage cancellation, Matulka moved in front and came home with a winning
margin of 1min 25.7sec ahead of series rookie Michał Chorbiński.
As well as elevating Matulka to first
place, Kelly’s unfortunate exit promoted Kohn from fourth to the all-important
third he needed to add the ERC3 title to the ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy crown he
won on Barum Czech Rally Zlín last month.
“They were really tricky stages and a
really hard beginning because we had some drama on shakedown,” Pole Matulka
explained. “But I’m really happy we came back with a good pace on Saturday. We
tried to push, we had a great battle with Eamonn, unfortunately he crashed but
it was a really good experience and I’m really looking forward to doing it
again maybe in the future.”
Of his provisional title triumph, Czech
Kohn said: “We don’t have much time or budget to go to Poland [for the final
round] so we had to get it done here. There was much pressure from that side so
we really wanted to push for that third place today and being the European
champion is a great title and I think it will help for the next seasons.”
Runner-up Chorbiński, who received a late
call-up to replace the ill Igor Widłak, impressed on his Rally3 debut in second
place, 3.0sec ahead of Kohn. He said: “It’s great to be on the finish line,
even better to be on the podium. I’m very pleased and happy to finish the rally
like this, I’m just so, so happy.”
The all-asphalt Rally Silesa in Poland
brings the curtain down on the 2024 ERC3 season from 11 - 13 October.
Chile
Poland
China