Peugeot driver Nicolas Vouilloz won the Barum Rally Zlín this afternoon from his team mate Enrique Garcia Ojeda after an action-packed final day. Privateer Abarth driver Freddy Loix started the final day in the lead, but was forced into a bitter retirement, after taking a left-front wheel off his Grande Punto Abarth just four kilometres from the end of SS12: the longest of the rally at 27 kilometres.

The Belgian had earlier sustained a puncture on the same wheel, and was trying to get to the end of the stage or find a safe place to stop and change the wheel. Co-driver Eddy Chevaillier commented: "The tyre had gone down earlier and we were struggling. Then, on a corner very close to the end it let go completely and we ploughed straight on. Unfortunately, there was a post by the side of the road that took the wheel off and we were unable to continue. It's just really bad luck. Even if we had stopped to change the wheel we would only have lost two or three minutes and we would still have been able to fight for the podium. And if the post that took off the wheel had not been there, then we would have been able to continue."

This would have let Ojeda through into the top spot, but the Spaniard broke a driveshaft on the same demanding stage and dropped to second behind his team mate. Although he found the bumpy and dirty asphalt stages quite difficult to get used to, Vouilloz steered clear of major problems to take his second IRC victory of the year. Vouilloz said: “This win is something of a surprise for me, particularly after the first day when I did not feel so confident over the bumps. But then I began to feel more at ease with the car in these conditions, and once I was towards the top of the leaderboard I kept pushing at a good enough pace to make sure that I did not repeat the mistake I made in Ypres. For me, this rally was all about finding the right compromise between speed and safety, and the reward is a fantastic result not just for me and my co-driver but for the whole Peugeot team.”

Local driver Vaclav Pech was third in his Mitsubishi Lancer, ahead of the similar car of last year’s rally winner Roman Kresta. The latter lost a lot of time with a puncture on the very first stage, before mounting a brilliant fightback. Bernd Casier, in a Kronos-run Peugeot, was another driver who lost time on the opening stage – this time because of an off-road excursion – before working his way back up to fifth ahead of another local Mitsubishi driven by Vaclav Arazim.
 

Andrea Navarra had a disappointing event, sustaining suspension damage on both days. Today he was caught out under braking on SS12 on the corner following the one that claimed rally leader Loix. "We didn't see Freddy's car - it must have been well off the road," said Navarra. "When we braked for the next corner the rear of the car just got away from me: it's so easy for that to happen. Unfortunately we clipped the side of the road and that broke a rear suspension arm. We had to continue slowly to the end of the stage and that cost us at least a minute." He eventually finished seventh one place ahead of Renato Travaglia whose debut in a privateer Grande Punto was blighted by punctures, while Simon Jean-Joseph finished in the top 10 with his Citroen C2 S1600 – despite losing time with a brake problem at the end of day one. Two other Abarth drivers survived the carnage: Roman Odložilík finished 11th while Volkan Isik was 13th.

Ojeda’s runner-up spot means that he now takes over the lead of the IRC drivers’ classification. With 36 points collected thus far he now opens up a five point advantage over Andrea Navarra, who has led the series since the opening round in Kenya back in early March. Meanwhile Peugeot now heads the manufacturers’ standings thanks to its maximum score of 18 points awarded for its 1-2 finish, compared to the 3 points that Abarth collected. Coming into the rally Abarth had held a 1 point advantage, this now turns to a 14 point deficit. However manufacturers (and drivers) can discard their two lowest points hauls (choosing their best 7 scores from the nine rounds) and so Abarth can expect to wipe this rally off its slate at the end of the season. Peugeot in fact already has one zero points score to its name as it didn't take part in the Safari Rally so Abarth cannot afford anymore slip-ups in its quest for the title.

The next round of the IRC is the all-asphalt Sanremo Rally, to be held from September 27-29. This legendary event, based at the Italian seaside resort, takes in demanding mountain roads and uniquely features several spectacular night stages.