Already a certain champion, Kopecký will attack for the fourth win in a row at Rallye Pačejov

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Start Barum Czech rally Zlín, European and Czech championship event, August 18, 2023, Zlín. Jan Kopecký with the Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 car.

Horažďovice (Klatovskogo) – Jan Kopecký, already a certain national champion in car competitions, will be aiming for his fourth victory in a row at the Pačejov Rally this weekend. In the last race of the championship, Adam Březík and Dominik Stříteský were originally supposed to fight for the overall second place, but currently the second Březík is missing from the start. Stříteský thus has a chance to move to the silver position, for which he needs to get 22 points.

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Photo gallery: Czech Rally Championship 2023

“The main reason why I'm not going is that our budget is not infinite. And the chance to be second was rather theoretical,” Březík told MfDnes. The driver of the Samohyl Škoda team is currently second, but five results are included in the final ranking. If he had started in Pačejov, he would have had to score significantly more points than his rival.

Stríteský needs to score 22 points to move to the silver position, while in the MČR individual stages and the overall ranking are scored separately. He will overtake Březík if he finishes in 6th place. However, in theory, he can win a stage and be worse overall. But the bottom line is that they have to reach the destination. “Above all, we must not make a mistake,” said Stříteský.

Kopecký and Václav Pech are traditionally the main contenders for victory, but their results are not included in the championship. In the past three years, Kopecký was always the fastest in Pačejov, but this year Pech is doing better. He beat his long-time rival at Valaška, at Rallye Šumava Klatovy, in Hustopeče and he was also faster at Barum Rallye Zlín.

“The special stages here are technically and sportingly very demanding, most of them are on narrow roads where the car can barely fit. Every driver's mistake is punished here much sooner than at other competitions, at least with a flat tire, which we have also experienced here repeatedly,” he said Pech, who won the competition in 2005, when it was still part of the rallyesprint series.

Pachejov moved to the “big” championship in 2020, and since then Kopecký has always won. He is also looking forward to the rally. “Pačejov is a beautiful competition for several reasons. There are beautiful stages, some of them are real pearls. The organizers also do a great job and create a very pleasant atmosphere for all the crews. This year the competition is held two weeks earlier than in previous years, so we also expect pleasant almost summer weather,” Kopecký said.

The competition with the center in Horažďovice will start on Saturday morning, the crews will have 12 special stages with a total length of 141 km. The winner of the 44th edition of the rally will be announced on Sunday around 1 p.m.

Provisional order of the MČR: 1. Kopecký 364.5 b., 2. Březík (both Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 ) 230, 3. Stříteský 220.5, 4. Cvrček 203.5, 5. Jirásek (all Škoda Fabia R5) 155, 6. Vlček (Hyundai i20 R5) 141.