Second stage win for Hänninen

Rain continues to add to the challenge facing crews on Barum Czech Rally Zlín. Jan Kopecký still leads but it was his factory Škoda Motorsport team-mate Juho Hänninen who was able to take advantage of a heavy downfall shortly after he’d started the 11.71-kilometre Semetín test by going quickest overall.

The Finn’s stage best put him back up to fourth ahead of Freddy Loix, who could only manage the seventh fastest time through the stage, which began to deteriorate as more crews ran through it due to the amount of mud being pulled onto the road by the leading cars.

Second quickest time on the Intercontinental Rally Challenge event for Bryan Bouffier enabled the French Peugeot 207 driver to trim Kopecký’s advantage to 22.6s with one stage remaining before the completion of leg one.

Overall positions after SS8:

1 Jan Kopecký (Škoda Fabia S2000) 1m05.05s
2 Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot 207 S2000) +22.6s
3 Kris Meeke (Peugeot 207 S2000) +31.9s
4 Juho Hänninen (Škoda Fabia S2000) +35.0s
5 Freddy Loix (Škoda Fabia S2000) +35.0s
6 Václav Pech (Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) +1m22.9s
7 Pavel Valoušek (Škoda Fabia S2000) +1m47.3s
8 Andreas Mikkelsen (M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000) +2m05.2s