Surprisingly, Cais won the first stage of the Zlín Barum Rally, Kopecký is the second

The surprising winner of the first stage of the Barum Rally Zlín was Erik Cais, who, after nine special stages, is two seconds ahead of Jan Kopecký in second. Behind the eight-time winner of the competition, which is part of the Czech and European championships, is the third Andreas Mikkelsen from Norway, who is 16.6 seconds behind Cais.

Barum Czech rally Zlín, the event of the European and Czech championships. Erik Cais and Jindřiška Žáková.

Vladimir Prycek, ČTK

The 22-year-old Cais, who is starting at the European Championships as a priority, did not take the lead until tonight’s last stage, when he defeated Kopecký by eight seconds. “It was the best test I’ve ever ridden. There isn’t that much pyrotechnics for the New Year either. Thanks to all the great fans,” Cais rejoiced at the finish of the legendary Zlín test Pindula.

Kopecký has been ruling Barumce continuously since 2015, but this year he announced that he wanted to focus mainly on the evaluation of the Czech championship. “In those conditions, you have to take a risk to eat something. I don’t want to take a risk. But 20 years ago, I would have done it too. Tomorrow is still a long day and we will try to win,” Kopecký said.

The fourth is Václav Pech, who starts with a WRC car outside the official classification and his results are only included in the domestic championship. Today, the reigning domestic champion set off on the track with an interval of almost two hours behind the front of the race. He is currently half a minute behind Cais.

On Sunday, the jubilee 50th year of the rally will culminate in the final six special stages.