The Peugeot 207 S2000s visit their rivals’ home soil

The Barum Czech Rally Zlin has been organised every year since 1971, and this will be the 41st running of the competition. This exceptionally popular event is a major fixture of both the European Championship and the IRC. The mission facing Peugeot’s runners promises to be quite complex against their rivals who will be on home soil.

A big challenge

Frédéric Bertrand (Customer Competition Manager, Peugeot Sport: “We will do everything we can to beat our opponents, although we can no longer afford to make the slightest mistake. There will be four rounds of the IRC still to come after the Barum Rally. Because of the number of results that are taken into account with regard to the points that count towards the IRC Challenges, and given the higher coefficients of the last two rounds, we are still very much in the chase for the Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ titles. The time has come for us to reverse the trend, though.”

Looking for a return to Peugeot’s winning ways

The Peugeot 207 S2000’s strong start to its 2011 campaign included wins on two of the IRC’s most famous rounds: the Rallye Monte-Carlo, which was won by Bryan Bouffier, and the Tour de Corse, which was won by Thierry Neuville. Things didn’t go so well after that, however, and the Czech make now has a 48-point advantage over Peugeot. “The fight is by no means over yet, but time is running out,” says Frédéric Bertrand. “This event will see our drivers visit our rivals’ home soil. That said, the 207 S2000 has won the Barum Rally on two previous occasions, in 2007 and 2008, and the car came second in the hands of Kris Meeke in 2009. Last year, Bryan Bouffier was leading with two stages to go when two incidents dropped him out of contention shortly before the finish. Once again, we will be counting on Bryan to take the fight to our opponents and, if possible, snatch the win…”

Bryan Bouffier to spearhead Peugeot’s bid

With three Polish national titles to their name, Bryan Bouffier and Xavier Panseri have good experience of competing in eastern Europe, including the Barum Rally. “It’s a tremendous event,” says the Peugeot France driver. “I love the atmosphere, the field is always very strong and the stages are very varied. They range from wide and fast to narrow and bumpy, and the challenge is often made more complex by changing weather conditions. I led last year’s event but the fight was very close and tyre choices played a decisive role. I do feel very comfortable on this rally, though. Like Peugeot, I need to obtain a top result and I will do everything in my power to do just that.”

Thierry Neuville and Guy Wilks: chasing for points

Unlike Bouffier, Peugeot UK’s Guy Wilks/Phil Pugh and Peugeot Belgium-Luxemburg’s Thierry Neuville/Nicolas Gilsoul have little previous experience of the Czech Republic event. “Like Bryan, we need to score points,” they say in unison. “As a consequence, our chief objective will be to reach the finish. That said, if we are to keep our chances alive in the Drivers’ standings and help Peugeot in its bid to claim the Manufacturers’ crown, then we will need to push quite hard. We will have the benefit of the very positive test session we attended before the start, so the set-up of our 207 Super 2000s should be perfect. It will be down to us to take good notes during recce and then pace ourselves smartly once the rally has started if we are to secure a good finish here. It won’t be easy, be we’re certainly going to try.”

Pavel Valousek in the colours of Peugeot Czech Republic

The 41st Barum Rally has attracted another strong field, with no fewer than 122 cars on the entry list, including many of the local stars. The latter’s ranks include Pavel Valousek who is one of his country’s fastest drivers. He has considerable experience of the event and has frequently finished well. His best result to date was third in 2010. This year, he and his co-driver Zdenek Hruza are contesting their home championship in a 207 Super 2000 entered by Peugeot Czech Republic. “The test session organised for Guy Wilks, Thierry Neuville and myself went very well,” reports Pavel. “My target is to finish on the podium again, although I am aware that we aren’t alone in having that objective.”

No fewer than 28 Super 2000 cars feature on the entry list, including eight Peugeot 207 S2000s. One of those will be shared by Luca Betti and Maurizio Barone. The Italian driver is currently second in the provisional European Rally Championship standings and will be looking to profit from his visit to the Czech Republic to close the gap to fellow Italian Luca Rossetti who currently tops the championship.

Last but not least, the list of starters includes Poland’s Michal Solowow/Maciej Baran who will be back in a Peugeot 207 Super 2000 after finishing third in Ypres earlier in the year.