Faced with mixed conditions in the rally’s final loop of stagesKopecký made a bold choice, selecting slick tyres as those around him went for a mixture of standard and extreme wets, Lukyanuk on the former.
His boldness was rewarded, winning a mostly dry SS13 and SS14 to steal first place away from Lukyanuk. He wrapped up his victory on the final stage, edging out the Russian rocket by 1.7s in a tense finale.
Third place was decided in an even closer fight, with world rally star Dani Sordo clinging on to a podium finish by a mere 0.3s from local rally aceMiroslav Jakeš. Sordo had taken extreme wets for the final loop but without enough surface water on the stages, his Hyundai i20 was sliding around with a lack of grip.
ThoughJakeš fell short of a shock late podium by the narrowest of margins he did jump from fifth to fourth, passing FIA ERC Junior U28 class winner Nikolay Gyrazin.
Sordo and Gryazin had initially been locked in a battle for the final podium position but showed experience beyond his young years by taking a measured approach, electing to focus on preserving a maximum points haul for his ERC Junior U28 title charge instead.
Second place in ERC Junior U28 looked appeared set to goFilip Mareš’ way but a final stage crash ended his hopes at the very last moment. This handed runners-up honours to Fabian Kreim, who had been flying through the afternoon loop with clever tyre strategy by the BRR Baumschlanger team that runs his ŠKODA AUTO Deutschland entry.
Chris Ingram moved up to thrid in ERC Junior U28 afterMareš’ last stage retirement. Pushing flat out to try and catch Kreim, Ingram had several moments during the final test, coming home 9.6s shy of Kreim. He did successfully pass Rufa Sport driver Jaromír Tarabus for seventh place overall, however.
SEAJETS-backed Bruno Magalhães struggled with his conservative tyre choice, picking up only two points in his championship fight against Lukyanuk in ninth place. PEUGEOT Rally Academy talent Laurent Pellier finished fourth in ERC Junior U28 and also picked up the final ERC point, taking P10 due to Mareš’ late retirement.
Tibor Érdi Jr wrapped up victory in the ERC2 production category, mathematically securing a second consecutive title with his fourth win this season.
Late drama also befell the lead RGT class battle.Simone Tempestini had established a strong lead overRaphaël Astier on Saturday afternoon, though lost some of his lead on Sunday morning. A hydraulic pump failure on Tempestini’s car progressively lost him more time on each stage of the final loop, dropping behind eventual winner Astier and settling for second. Petr Nešetřil completed the RGT podium in a Porsche 997 GT3.
Source: ERC