IRC - Kopecky leads the way in shakedown
Hopes of the first all-Czech victory in eight years on the country´s biggest event were raised higher than ever as Jan Kopecky took the fastest time in shakedown for Skoda.
The 27-year-old Skoda Motorsport driver hustled his Fabia S2000 through the 3.04km stage in 1m 47.6s - just 0.1s faster than the BF Goodrich Drivers Team Peugeot 207 of Junior WRC champion Martin Prokop.
The top 10 cars had exactly one second covering them, with Abarth's Luca Rossetti claiming third from the two Benelux Peugeot 207s of defending champion Nicolas Vouilloz and former IRC points leader Freddy Loix. IRC front-runners Giandomenico Basso (Abarth) and Juho Hanninen (Skoda) tied with the privately-entered Fabia of local ace Pavel Valousek for sixth place on a time of 1m 48.2s.
Championship leader Kris Meeke's Peugeot and the similar car of local driver Leszek Kuzaj jointly claimed ninth fastest, exactly one second off Kopecky's time. Italy's Corrado Fontana was the next fastest through, a further 0.6s behind, and in twelfth place was visiting Citroen WRC driver Evgeny Novikov, partnered for the first time by new co-driver Stephane Prevot, a further half second behind.
Action gets underway this evening with a spectator friendly special stage in central Zlin at 21:00 CET - straight after the ceremonial start.
IRC Intercontinental Rally Challenge
The 27-year-old Skoda Motorsport driver hustled his Fabia S2000 through the 3.04km stage in 1m 47.6s - just 0.1s faster than the BF Goodrich Drivers Team Peugeot 207 of Junior WRC champion Martin Prokop.
The top 10 cars had exactly one second covering them, with Abarth's Luca Rossetti claiming third from the two Benelux Peugeot 207s of defending champion Nicolas Vouilloz and former IRC points leader Freddy Loix. IRC front-runners Giandomenico Basso (Abarth) and Juho Hanninen (Skoda) tied with the privately-entered Fabia of local ace Pavel Valousek for sixth place on a time of 1m 48.2s.
Championship leader Kris Meeke's Peugeot and the similar car of local driver Leszek Kuzaj jointly claimed ninth fastest, exactly one second off Kopecky's time. Italy's Corrado Fontana was the next fastest through, a further 0.6s behind, and in twelfth place was visiting Citroen WRC driver Evgeny Novikov, partnered for the first time by new co-driver Stephane Prevot, a further half second behind.
Action gets underway this evening with a spectator friendly special stage in central Zlin at 21:00 CET - straight after the ceremonial start.
IRC Intercontinental Rally Challenge
