Local aces on huge entry for Zlin IRC round

Local hero Pavel Valousek will be among more than 100 drivers in action on Barum Czech Rally Zlin later this month, organisers of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier have confirmed.

Although the official list of entries will not be published until next week (15 August), event bosses have revealed that the reigning Czech rally champion will compete in a Peugeot 207 Super 2000 run by
the Belgian Kronos Racing organisation, which claimed back to back victories in Zlin with Nicolas Vouilloz and Freddy Loix in 2007 and 2008 respectively.

The bulging entry also features a number of the IRC’s big guns, including Peugeot drivers Bryan Bouffier, Thierry Neuville and Guy Wilks, plus the trio of factory SKODA Motorsport pilots Juho Hanninen, Jan Kopecky and Freddy Loix, who will be bidding to make it three wins in a row for the Czech manufacturer on the asphalt event, which takes place from 26-28 August.

The full entry list will be published at 18:00hrs local time on Monday 15 August.

All eight IRC manufacturers, Abarth, Honda, M-Sport (Ford), Peugeot, PROTON, Ralliart (Mitsubishi), SKODA and Subaru, will be represented on the 41st running of the Czech rally, which counts as round seven of the 2011 IRC season.