Polish rally to boost Bouffier for Zlin

Bryan Bouffier hopes that an outing on a round of the Polish championship this weekend will boost his chances of success when he resumes his bid for Intercontinental Rally Challenge glory on Barum
Czech Rally Zlin at the end of August.

The Rallye Monte-Carlo winner will tackle Rajd Rzeszowski in a Peugeot Sport Polska Rally Team-run 207 Super 2000 alongside regular co-driver Xavier Panseri, who moved to Poland to live and run a
business three years ago.

Bouffier, from France, is a three-time Polish champion, taking the title in 2007 and 2008 in a Peugeot 207 S2000 before claiming a hat trick of accolades in 2009 at the wheel of a Ralliart Mitsubishi
Lancer.

“It’s a Tarmac rally so it’s good practice for Zlin”, said Bouffier, 32. “Whenever you have experience in the car it always helps you so maybe it can help me for Zlin. We will also do a test and I hope we will do a good job and be quick in Zlin. We need good points.”

Bouffier is currently 22 points behind Juho Hanninen in the IRC drivers’ standings following his exclusion from June’s GEKO Ypres Rally due to a technical infringement.

Rajd Rzeszowski takes place from 4-6 August and features 11 special stages. One of Bouffier’s main rivals this weekend is likely to be Polish driver Michal Solowow, currently 10th in the IRC
classification, in an M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000.