Renato Travaglia upheld Abarth honour on the IRC-counting Barum Rally Zlín after finishing fifth overall, the privateer making up two places in his Island Motorsport-run Grande Punto Abarth S2000 during today's final leg. In the IRC 2WD Cup as local crew Jan Šlehofer and Soběhart Zbyněk raced to victory in a Fiat Punto S1600 and in doing so tipped the championship points standings back in the Italian carmaker's favour.

Renato Travaglia upheld Abarth honour on the Barum Rally Zlín after finishing fifth overall, the privateer making up two places in his Island Motorsport-run Grande Punto Abarth S2000 during today's final leg. Two other Grande Punto Abarth machines reached the finishline this afternoon: local driver Tomáš Kostka was eleventh, while Turkish star Volkan Isik was four places further back.

The factory Abarth team suffered a dreadful rally. Both Giandomenico Basso and Anton Alén retired with gearbox problems yesterday, and although the pair restarted today under the SupeRally rule, Alen succumbed to further gearboxes issues. The only bright spot was the pace that Basso was able to set today, including a close second fastest on SS13. "When the car is working well, we can go quickly," said the Italian, who was using the SupeRally rule to test different set-ups. "But we need to make sure that we get everything right."

Abarth's title chances in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge have evaporated with just six of the ten rounds having been contested, Basso (22 pts) is now 22 points adrift of the series leader Nicolas Vouilloz, whilst in the manufacturers standings Abarth has 50 points compared to Peugeot's 103.

However there was better news in the IRC 2WD Cup as local crew Jan Šlehofer and Soběhart Zbyněk raced to victory in a Fiat Punto S1600 and in doing so tipped the championship points standings back in the Italian carmaker's favour. Fiat now has 49 points compared to Peugeot's 46, with four rallies remaining. Meanwhile Marco Cavigioli, was unable to start the rally after discovering an issue with his Fiat Punto diesel's hub assembly on the Friday night superspecial.

At the front Peugeot Belgium driver Freddy Loix has claimed his second IRC win of the season. “I needed to score some points to improve my places in the championship, so this is exactly the best way to do it,” said Loix. My objective is still to be in the top three at the end of the year, so another win is the best way to go about it. This gives me a lot of confidence for the rest of the season.”

By finishing second, his team mate Vouilloz makes sure that he stays in the lead of the championship. Vouilloz, who claimed the opening spectator superspecial stage on Friday night in Zlin, challenged Loix for victory right up until this morning’s loop of stages. A loose screw on SS11 meant that a front driveshaft broke loose, reducing his Peugeot 207 S2000 to just three-wheel drive. Vouilloz’s dramas were not over in the afternoon: a broken starter motor on the penultimate stage meant that he lost another 30 seconds. As a result, he headed into the final stage with a margin of just 6.5 seconds over the third-placed man.

Completing the podium was another 207 S2000, in the hands of Peugeot Poland driver Bryan Bouffier. The Frenchman was handed a minute’s penalty on Saturday evening for clocking into SS9 too early, but he was the only person to properly challenge the two Peugeot Belgium drivers on pace. Luca Rossetti had occupied the final podium place until the final stage on Saturday, when he picked up a puncture that cost nearly three minutes.

The top local driver was Pavel Valousek, whose fourth place finish in a Peugeot 207 S2000 is the best overall result obtained on an IRC event by a member of the BFGoodrich Drivers’ Team. After a thrilling battle that went all the way to the final stage, the young Czech just beat the Abarth Grande Punto S2000 of former European Champion Renato Travaglia.

The Barum Rally Zlin, run on a tricky selection of asphalt roads totalling 263 competitive kilometres, proved to be the most punishing round of the IRC held so far – with several top contenders falling by the wayside. The first and most dramatic retirement was that of local hero Roman Kresta, who rolled his Peugeot 207 on the opening stage of Saturday.

Volkswagen’s Bernd Casier was set for a top-10 result before crashing into a bridge parapet on SS11 this morning, and Mitsubishi’s local hero Vaclav Pech was also running strongly before dropping out of contention with a broken sumpguard. The top Mitsubishi was local man Arazim Vaclav in 14th.