IRC Barum Czech Rally Zlin preview : The competitors

Zlin regularly attracts a big entry and the tradition is maintained this year with 122 crews, including 29 in Super 2000 machinery, set to take the start. All eight IRC manufacturers – Abarth, Honda, M-Sport, Peugeot, PROTON, Ralliart, SKODA and Subaru – are represented, while seven IRC event winners will be taking part.

Of these no driver has won more IRC rounds than Juho Hanninen, who made it eight wins with victory on last month’s Sata Rallye Acores in his SKODA Motorsport Fabia Super 2000. Hanninen’s success on the gravel round – the Finn has also triumphed twice on asphalt this season – has given him a 13-point title lead over team-mate Jan Kopecky and Freddy Loix, who drives a Fabia for the factory-run BFO-SKODA Rally Team and won in Zlin last season.

While Belgian Loix is an established frontrunner in the IRC, his victory on the Czech Republic round in 2010 owed much to local hero Kopecky’s costly mistake when he was leading comfortably. Bryan Bouffier could also have capitalised on Kopecky’s error but he lost vital ground when a water leak caused him to go off the road, but not before the Peugeot France driver had created a strong impression in his 207 S2000.

Bouffier is one of several Peugeot drivers in action in Zlin this season and will be determined to regain some of the ground he has lost in the title fight following his exclusion from the results of June’s GEKO Ypres Rally due to a technical infringement. Other Peugeot runners include Tour de Corse-E.Leclerc winner Thierry Neuville, who competes under the Team Peugeot Belgium-Luxembourg banner, and Peugeot UK’s Guy Wilks.

Pavel Valousek, the reigning Czech champion will also rely on Peugeot power. Like Neuville and Wilks, he will drive for the crack Kronos Racing operation from Belgium. With backing from Peugeot’s Czech importer, Valousek will be determined to build on the third place finish he achieved in Zlin in 2010.

SKODA UK Motorsport’s Andreas Mikkelsen has competed in Zlin on two occasions and will start the event on a high following his impressive second place finish in the Azores. Roman Kresta will also be at the wheel of a Fabia and is a three-time winner of the event. SKODA Sweden’s Patrik Sandell and TGS Worldwide’s Toni Gardemeister will be in the thick of the top 10 battle, while Irish privateer Robert Barrable impressed with a points finish on his IRC debut in Ypres in a Fabia. Estonian teenager Karl Kruuda has scored points on both IRC rounds he has started this season.

Two other Fabia drivers set to create an impression in Zlin are the SKODA Auto Deutschland duo of Matthias Kahle and Mark Wallenwein. The importer is contesting a selection of IRC rounds this season with Kahle, a multiple German champion, making his IRC debut in Zlin.

PG Andersson and Giandomenico Basso head PROTON Motorsports’ challenge in their Satria Neo S2000s and will impress, as will Pole Michal Solowow and young Irishman Craig Breen in their M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000s.

IRC Production Cup

Vaclav Pech will be the driver to beat in the new-for-2011 IRC Production Cup in his Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX, which he has upgraded to R4 specification. His rivals include Ralliart driver Vaclav Arazim and Subaru Impreza trio Daniel Behalek, Jan Slehofer and Vojtech Stajf. Japan’s Fumio Nutahara, starting his second event in his Yokohama-backed Impreza R4, will be in contention, as will Jaromir Tarabus who has switched to a Lancer after contesting a handful of IRC rounds in 2010 in a Fiesta. Italian Marco Cavigioli, a former IRC 2WD Cup champion, will begin his five-event IRC Production Cup bid in Zlin in a Lancer.

IRC 2WD Cup

Jan Cerny will be one of the favourites for IRC 2WD Cup glory. The highly rated Czech youngster is armed with an R2 version of SKODA’s successful Fabia and is regarded as an asphalt expert. He will face stiff competition from Estonian Honda Civic ace Martin Kangur, Czech driver Vaclav Dunovsky, Bulgarian Todor Slavov, Italian Stefano Albertini and Frenchman Jean-Michel Raoux, the current leader of the standings. Giovanni Vergnano is the lone Abarth driver on the entry at the wheel of a 500 R3T.