Vojtěch Štajf defended his championship at the Lak Racing Rally Pilsen. | Video: Diary/Zdeněk Soukup
“It’s good,” said 47-year-old driver Václav Pech, who is looking for equipment for next season. That’s why he borrowed a Citroën C3 Rally2 car in Austria to test it at the Lak Racing Rallye at home in Pilsen.
Even after the fifth special stage, he led the overall standings by four and a half seconds ahead of Vojtěch Štajf. But after the sixth timed test, Pech was missing from the results.
play_fill
“The crew of Pech – Uhel in the Citroën car withdraws from the first place in the absolute ranking due to a fuel pump failure,” the Pilsen stable EuroOil team informed a moment later.
The fans in blue-yellow colors, who were the most numerous around the track, did not get to see the eight-time Czech champion. And who knows if they will see him again with a citroën? Even though behind the scenes, it was immediately speculated that the next event of the CR Championship in the sprint rally around Příbram should also go with him.
It is certain that at Rallye Bohemia (July 12 and 13) Pech will present himself with a Ford Focus WRC.
Vojtěch Štajf perfectly used the fact that Pech did not finish in Pilsen to defend the championship. “The Pilsen gold is returning to Prague after a year,” his team Racing 21 wrote on their Facebook profile.
“Exactly half of the winning erzets out of a total of eight clearly shows that you really kept your fingers crossed,” Štajf thanked his supporters.
Results of the Lak Racing Rally Pilsen, the third event of the Czech Sprint Rally Championship:
1. Štajf, Rajnoha (Škoda Fabia R5) 39:00.6,
2. Martin Vlček, Kunst (Hyundai i20 N) -12,
3. Odložilík, Persein (Škoda Fabia RS) -19.6
4. Szabó, Tichý (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) –40.4
5. Tomek, Baďura (Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo) –40.7
6. Thorny, Doerr (Škoda Fabia R5) –45.3
