Valoušek storms to stage win

Pavel Valoušek made the most of his decision to use hard-compound tyres on the all-dry Halenkovice stage – plus his knowledge of the roads due to the fact he lives close to the run – by topping the times on the 24.9-kilometre test.

While Valoušek celebrated his second stage win of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge qualifier to move into fifth place, Jan Kopecký’s overall lead has been trimmed to 24.1s over Freddy Loix.

The factory Škoda Motorsport driver reported struggling through the stage on soft-compound tyres and could only manage the fifth fastest time.

Overall positions after SS10:

1 Jan Kopecký (Škoda Fabia S2000) 1h35m36.7s
2 Freddy Loix (Škoda Fabia S2000) +24.1s
3 Bryan Bouffier (Peugeot 207 S2000) +24.4s
4 Juho Hänninen (Škoda Fabia S2000) +30.4s
5 Kris Meeke (Peugeot 207 S2000) +1m01.0s
6 Pavel Valoušek (Škoda Fabia S2000) +1m43.3s
7 Václav Pech (Ralliart Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX) +1m46.6s
8 Andreas Mikkelsen (M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000) +2m16.5s