|
Winner last time out in Madeira earlier this
month, Giandomenico Basso, will be again backed
up by backed up in the factory Abarth team by
the rapid Luca Rossetti who shone on the island
rally prior to his event-ending accident, when
the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (IRC) heads
for the Czech Republic next week for the eighth
round of the 2009 season, the 39th Barum Czech
Rally Zlín. With Basso elevated to 27 points in
the standings thanks to his hard-fought Madeiran
victory, the Italian has now joined Skoda's Jan
Kopecký (29 points) and Peugeot's points leader
Kris Meeke (34 points) in the IRC championship
chase, and there is sure to be a strong push
from the Italian team.
Four
privately-entered Grande Punto Abarths will
support the factory duo. Reigning IRC 2WD Cup
champion Marco Cavigioli, who also appeared in
Madeira (although the Italian dropped out at the
very end of the rally after a good drive) will
line up alongside two locally-entered machines
for Jaroslav Orsak and Jaromir Tarabus, with a
Polish-entry for the quick Grzegorz Grzyb
completing the representation from the Italian
Super 2000 machines.
Tarabus is expected to be one to watch as his
Super 2000 Grande Punto Abarth will be run by
the recently formed MT3 Project team, and the
experienced Czech is set to become the first
non-factory driver to receive FPT Racing's new
evolution engine that has very quickly
demonstrated its winning potential on the recent
IRC round in Madeira. He will get further
support from the Abarth factory with his
servicing schedule although he will be using the
Sadev transmission option that proved very
unreliable in the Grande Punto Abarth and this
could prove a headache on the 39th Barum Czech
Rally Zlín, which is notorious for being touch
on gearboxes.
A
total of 119 cars, and a new record of twenty
five Super 2000 machines, will contest the rally
which takes place on August 21-23. Heading the
entry list is the factory Skoda team of Juho
Hanninen and local hero and title contender
Kopecký which will be on home soil.
Once again Peugeot’s challenge will be headed by
current points leader Meeke and the early season
leader Freddy Loix, alongside the defending IRC
champion Nicolas Vouilloz. The front-running
trio will also be joined by the BF Goodrich
Drivers Team entry which will be driven by
newly-crowned Junior WRC champion Martin Prokop.
For
the first time there will be two of the
impressive new Proton Satria Neo S2000 cars in
action on an IRC event, as regular contender Guy
Wilks is joined by Frenchman Bryan Bouffier.
Ralliart is another manufacturer boasting
massive privateer support. The Evo X of Dutchman
Jasper van den Heuvel, so impressive on the
asphalt in Ypres earlier in the season, returns
alongside the ranks of tried and trusted Evo IX
machines led by IRC series regular Franz
Wittmann.
Private entries are abundant in the Super 2000
class, showing how successful and accessible the
formula has become for teams and drivers looking
to make the breakthrough into the top flight of
the international sport. As well as the four
privately-run Grande Punto Abarths, Czech former
WRC star Roman Kresta is one of five
privately-entered Peugeot 207 S2000s, with
current WRC driver Evgeny Novikov set to tackle
the rally in a privately-entered Skoda Fabia
S2000 – one of two such cars on the event. In
the 2WD category a quartet of the mightily
impressive Honda Civic Type Rs will go into
battle with a host of Peugeot, Fiat and Skoda
machines, to make this one of the most
competitive IRC events to date.
|
