Abarth's quest for a respectable result in the Czech Republic faded on the fourth stage of the second leg of the 39th Barum rally Zlín yesterday after the surviving factory entry of Luca Rossetti lost three minutes with another puncture and the Italian slid back down the leaderboard. The rally was the eighth round of the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC). Following team leader Giandomenico Basso's departure from the rally the day before (although he re-entered the final leg under the SupeRally rule) it was left to Rossetti, who was in the line-up to support his team mate's title aspirations, to salvage pride and although he started the morning in eighth place and climbed as high as sixth, his misfortune saw him slid down the order to finish in tenth.

Basso's retirement deals a severe blow to his IRC title hopes which had loomed back into view with a hard-fought win last time out in Madeira. Second place at the weekend for Kris Meeke keeps him in command of the classification with 42 points while a first win of the year for Jan Kopecký leaves the Czech driver just five points adrift of the Briton. Freddy Loix and Basso, who both retired, remain tied in third place on 27 points, but with just three rounds remaining the Abarth driver's chances of winning the title are become somewhat mathematical. Basso's hopes of winning the FIA European Rally Championship (the rally also counted towards the premier European series) were also dealt a blow and he surrendered the eight point cushion at the top of the standings over Michal Solowow that he enjoyed going into the rally, although his title chances still remain very strong, particularly as the Pole will have to start dropping scores. 

Rossetti had started the second and final leg of the Barum Czech Rally Zlín yesterday in eighth place while the best of the trio of surviving private entries over the start ramp for the last day had been Grzegorz Grzyb, in thirteenth spot overnight. Both of the Abarth drivers who retired on Leg One, factory star Giandomenico Basso and the private pilot Jaromir Tarabus, were back with hastily repaired cars, re-entering under the SupeRally rule. The final day started well for Rossetti and despite a spin on the opening stage (SS10) and setting only the ninth fastest time he jumped two places overall to sixth as Freddy Loix (Peugeot 207 S2000) retired and Evgeny Novikov (Skoda Fabia S2000) lost time after making an off road excursion. Back in the rally again Basso and Tarabus were both looking quick, the factory driver posting the fifth fastest time on the stage while the Czech (who had a latest FPT specification engine under the bonnet for the weekend) was twelfth quickest. In the bitter battle to be the top Abarth privateer Jaroslav Orsák overhauled Grzyb on the stage as he jumped two places from his overnight slot move into twelfth spot overall.

Tenth fastest on SS11, the second stage of the day, kept Rossetti in sixth place overall but the Italian was finding the rally hard-going. "It was a very difficult stage," reported the reigning ERC champion. SS12 was just 8.47 km and Rossetti was thirteenth fastest while Basso, who has posted a poor time on the previous stage, went second quickest. Amongst the privateer Abarths Orsák and Grzyb, both in JM Engineering Zlín-run entries were still locked in battle. The Pole was the quicker of the pair through the stage but the Czech still held the advantage. "Two stages were still wet, the route was slippery and it was hard to stay on the road," said Grzyb. "We had wrong tyres and made a spin. Fortunately, there is no mud on the road, just water. But I’m satisfied with today's leg," he added. Orsák was happy with the progress he was making on the final day: "Today we missed one turn and had to reverse," said the Czech youngster, who was making his debut in one of the Italian Super 2000 machines on the rally. "We chose hard tyres so we’re not ideally stuck to the road but everything is ok," he said. Tarabus was also going quickly, setting the eleventh fastest time on SS12. "Yesterday we had problems with the electronics. Unfortunately, it was difficult to find the defect and it took too long. We decided to go on in terms of SupeRally. In the previous years we retired at the first stages, so we need to get some more kilometres on the track also due to the car," said Tarabus who as well as a new engine step was benefiting from Abarth factory servicing assistance on the rally.

On SS13, the halfway point of the final day, the final nail was hammered in the Abarth factory's coffin on the rally as Rossetti suffered another  puncture and as a result lost 3 minutes and 18 seconds to tip him back down the order into tenth place. The private Abarth contingent went down one member too on the same stage as the hard-charging Grzyb had an accident and retired. Almost unnoticed in amongst all this drama was a strong fifth fastest on the stage for Basso and an impressive ninth quickest for Tarabus. There was no change during the final two stages for Rossetti and he remained in tenth place at the flag. "The result is not very satisfactory but the rally was nice," said the Italian. Orsák crept up the order in the closing stages to finish in a strong eleventh place and he was happy with his first outing in an Abarth Grande Punto S2000. "Apart from the problems we had on Saturday, everything was ok," said the Czech youngster. "Today everything was much better and I believe that next time we’ll do better." Reigning IRC 2WD Cup champion Marco Cavigioli chipped away at the leaderboard all through the final day in his Trico Motor Sport-run Abarth Grande Punto and he climbed up to seventeen spot by the time the rally returned to Zlín for the final time yesterday. Elsewhere Jiří Skoupil won the IRC 2WD Cup in a Fiat Punto S1600, and Alfa Romeo enthusiasts' were hugely cheered by a storming drive into forty second overall by Martin Rada in his Alfa 147.

Meanwhile as the Abarth bid faded Kopecký became the first Czech driver to win the Barum Czech Rally Zlín in a Czech car for eight years, after a masterful performance on round 8 of the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge. The 27-year-old Skoda Motorsport driver delivered the result that tens of thousands of Czech fans have been cheering for with a masterful display, taking the lead from team mate Juho Hanninen on SS2. He held his advantage to the finish by almost exactly one minute, crossing the line ahead of his nearest rival, Peugeot UK driver Meeke, who fought back brilliantly from thirty third place at the end of SS1 to defend his championship lead.

Completing the podium finishers was the second Skoda Motorsport entry of Finland’s Juho Hanninen. The gravel expert claimed victory on the opening night’s spectator stage in Zlín but then had to fight back after dropping time when the rally moved out into the rolling Czech hills. His success denied a podium finish to Czech hero Roman Kresta, a three-time winner of the Barum Czech Rally Zlín, who took fourth place in his privately-entered Peugeot 207 S2000.

Fifth place fell to 2009 J-WRC champion Martin Prokop, who was awarded the coveted BF Goodrich Drivers Team guest car for the event – the only opportunity that the Czech Republic’s first rally world champion has had to perform in front of his home fans at the top level. Prokop took some time to find the limits of his car on the opening leg, but settled quickly into the front-running pace to take a well-deserved finish. Another potential star of the future from the Czech Republic finished sixth in the form of Pavel Valousek, at the wheel of a privately-entered Skoda. Valousek, last year’s BF Goodrich driver, was another who lost valuable time on the opening stages with a mechanical problem but battled back into the points in a flourishing drive. Hungary’s Janos Toth claimed seventh place in his privately-entered Peugeot, ahead of the Ralliart Evo IX of Vaclav Pech.

As was expected on the rough and slippery asphalt stages, there was heavy attrition among the 107 cars that took the start. As well as Basso crashing out on Sturday, both of the all-new Proton Satria Neo S2000s were eliminated before the start of SS2 with engine problems believed to be the result of a software fault in the engine management system and defending IRC champion Nicolas Vouilloz went out on SS4 when his Peugeot caught fire. Belgian ace Freddy Loix saw his championship chances take a big hit this morning on SS10 when a puncture caused unrepairable damage to his Peugeot.

ItaliaspeedTV: Shakedown Stage / Scrutineering / Ceremonial Start / Superspecial Stage (SS1) / Star Rally / Leg One (I) / Leg One (II) / Leg Two