The Star Rally result was decided by an SMS vote from the fans on the rally and the winner was the crew Aleš Máčala and Michal Pohanka with a Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

While the Abarth factory challenge on the Barum Czech Rally Zlín faded this afternoon as Luca Rossetti slipped down the order, Italian honour was capably upheld as Aleš Máčala won the event's "Star Rally" in a stunning Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

One of the popular parts of this years Barum Czech Rally Zlín was the international historical rally, called Star Rally. In total 28 crews from six European countries participated. The crews came from the Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Estonia and Germany. The result was decided by an SMS vote from the fans on the rally and the winner was the crew Aleš Máčala and Michal Pohanka with a Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

"Only vintage cars or replicas can take part in the event. The car’s appearance must correspond with the original model and must represent the history of rally sport. Cars made after 1986 may only be the original competitive cars," said Antonín Smažinka, head of the Star Rally.“ Just like the Abarth factory Grande Puntos of Giandomenico Basso and Luca Rossetti and the rest of the IRC runners, the Star Rally participants went through the scrutineering on Thursday, from 17:00 until 19:00, in front of the Zlín town hall. The Star Rally kicked off on Friday at 19:00 at the podium ramp in front of the Zlín Big Cinema and the first car started the superspecial stage in Zlín at 20:00. The historic rally cars brought an attractive and exciting prologue to the current cars and received thunderous applause from the rally fans. Yesterday (Saturday) saw the Star Rally crews going twice through the stages Halenkovice, Kudlovice and Zádveřice, immediately after the current cars. The first car arrived at the podium ramp at 21:00 where the voting results were announced and the award ceremony took place. The Star Rally was 274 km long and contained seven stages that came to a total length of 119 km. The spectators also packed in to see the cars in their service park which was located at Tomas Bata University car park next to the Moskva hotel in Zlín.

The purpose of the Star Rally was a beautiful demonstrational showing of a swage of historical rally cars on special stages without resort to timekeeping. The results are based on the SMS vote of the spectators during the rally. The vote was held in cooperation with the media partner of the Barum Rally Radio Zlín. Six crews were awarded and all crews obtained souvenirs," added Smažinka.

As well as the evocative Alfa Romeo Giulietta, the entry list contained many famous names from the past, such as Pavel Valoušek (Škoda 130 RS), Karel Jirátko (Fiat 131 Abarth), Jozef Béreš (Audi 80 Quattro Coupé), Jozef Béreš Jr (LADA VFTS) from Slovakia, Niki Glisic (BMW E30 M3) from Austria and Villu Mattik (BMW 2002 Ti) from Estonia. Many drivers came from Austria and brought cars such as the Ford Escort RS 2000, Talbot Sunbeam, Audi 80 Quattro, Audi 200 Quattro and Mercedes 190. The entry list also included two of the legendary local Skoda 130 RS machines run by the AV Engineering team which were driven over the weekend by Michal Sum Jr and Marek Sum. One car to stand out was a dazzling blue Renault Alpine 1600 S type 110, with starting number H14, that was driven by Jindřich Mužík and co-driver Libor Václavík. This highly original racing car, made in 1972, has 130 HP under the bonnet and during the Star Rally over the weekend it was making its debut on the Czech roads. The Alpine, which is homologated in GR4 class, had most recently been been used by German pilot Peter Brager, and it was voted runner-up to the Alfa Romeo Giulietta.

Results of the Star Rally 2009: 1st Aleš Máčala/Michal Pohanka (CZ, Alfa Romeo Giulietta, Macalacar s.r.o.), 2nd Jindřich Mužík/Libor Václavík (CZ, Renault Alpine A110, Jindřich Mužík), 3rd Jozef Béreš senior/Tibor Bernáth (SK, Audi 80 Quattro, Beti Racing Team), 4th Václav Častulík/Josef Častulík (CZ, Škoda 130 LR, Josef Častulík), 5th Villu Mattik/Mait Mattik (EE, BMW 2002 TI, Villu Club Estonia), 6th Jozef Béreš Jr/Zoltán Répas (SK/H, LADA VFTS, Jozef Béreš Jr)

ItaliaspeedTV: Star Rally