Inview into the history of 33 Barum Rally editions


   The Barum Rally will open its 34th edition of a wealthy history. The favorite and famous Rally will be driven as a part of the European Championship in Zlínsko and its surroundings in the end of August. Let us have a look at the previous years of the Barum Rally, which has got on the top of the European Championship during the years.

Vladimír HUBÁČEK - ing. Stanislav MINÁŘÍK
(Renault Alpine)
An amateur competition, which started the history of the Barum Rally in 1971, continued as a part of the Car Championship of ČSSR in the next year. The spectators could especially admire the legend blue "alpin" driven by Vladimír Hubáček. In 70-ies the starting field included mostly cars Škoda 100, 110 and 120 driven by the top drivers as Milan Žid, Oldřich Horsák, Karel Šimek or Jiří Šedivý, but also by incoming generation to which belonged Václav Blahna, Leo Pavlík, Milan Zapadlo etc. For this period it was typical the presence of so called "sprint stages" and also of "qualification and special round stages". Even here it was the rule that the man who wanted to win had to hardly practise not only SS but also the total distances. Some of them were very difficult and technical
Václav Blahna (Škoda 130 RS)
sections, very often in the dark and with speed rhythm. It was driven in the heart of Beskydy and Javorníky and the course reached also Slovakia. Don´t make any illusions, there was a lot of beautiful parts but also a lot of speed asphalt ones as well as broken gavel ones there. Home fans used to watch competition stars of early 70-ies in the Vltava Rally in Klatovy. But after the year 1974, the focus was slowly moving to the superior driving field of the Barum Rally. The starting list of the 4th year was dominated by the names like Walter Röhrl, Franze Wittmann, Ilja Čubrikov or Werner Hauck. Many Austrian, German and Italian crews visited the Barum Rally also in the next years. Some of them with favour, some of them with apprehension drove through the famous gavel SS nearby Strážnice.

John HAUGLAND - Jan Olof BOHLIN (Škoda 130 RS)

In the second part of 70-ies the super car from Mladá Boleslav, type Škoda 130 RS plant dominated. The legendary Norwegian John Haugland gained three victories (in 1976, 1979 and 1980) with this car. And when he had a bad luck in 1977 and 1978, they were his colleagues Václav Blahna and Jiří Šedivý who won. A few speed Italian drivers representing the team Quattro Rombi Corse visited former Gottwaldov during the decade break. They drove very well-prepared cars Fiat 131 Abarth and Fiat Ritmo. Even though the star crews "Lucky" Fabrizia Ponz and Ceccato de Antoni didn´t succeed, the team left a very good impression in Walachia. In 1981 it was their compatriot Andrea
Antonio Zanussi (Porsche 911 SC)
Zanussi with Porsche 911 SC who gained the victory. In those days the competition course was formed to the shape which was known till the 90-ies. Beside the classical stages Pindula and Maják, the new beautiful and hard SS in the Kašava surrounding were built as well as the Vsetín section. The charm and glamour of the Barum Rally was in its atmosphere together with the magic of night passages in Kopná, under the Malenovice castle or in Pindula.

Looking back to history of the Barum Rally we can find few really interesting years. Beside the years 197, 1976, 1981 and lately 1990 and 1991
Harald DEMUTH (Audi Quattro A2)
it was surely the year 1985. In the course of the Barum Rally was firstly introduced the car Škoda 130 L, category B, the successor of legendary "130 RS". This legend managed to take, during its final ride, all victory places of the 13th rally after the beautiful Křeček fight against Swede Jokim. The starting field of the 15th year was kinged by foreign drivers with Renault 5 Turbo (Hungarian Ferjancz,Yugoslav Kuzmič) and Opel Manta or Ascona 400 (the Germans Moosleitner, Hainbach, Richter) and the absolute top was Audi Quattro, with which German Harald Demuth vindicated his victory from the year 1984.

For the next two years the competition reached Slovakia, the Topolčany surrounding. The name of Slovak mountains
PAVLÍK Leo - JIRÁTKO Karel
(Audi Quattro A1)
Tríbeč, in the heart of which one of the most beautiful central European SS Solčany - Lefantovce took place, was added to the name of rally. A similar beauty-spot was offered by mountains Povážský Inovec with 31 km of asphalt and gavel in the Dubodiel - Závada section. For the first time it was Leo Pavlík and Karel Jirátko who won, next to them stood on the "victory box" Jiří Sedlář and third came Armin Schwarz. While for the German driver it was the beginning towards to the European top, the talent of his opponent was burnt in 3-year later accident during the test ride. The epoch of the category A was started in the Barum Rally by the crew Attila Ferjancz, dr. János Tandari (Audi Coupé Quattro). In 1988 this crew appeared here again and its chance for victory was taken by the presence of the top Austrian drivers with the "Emperor"
FERJANCZ Attila - Dr. TANDARI János
Franz Wittmann in the head. He dominated the rally for the next two years and gained the points to the Austrian Championship. At the beginning of the 90-ies the Barum Rally had the coefficient 10 and the starting lists with well-known names of the top European drivers fighting for the European victory. The great fight between Finn Sundstöm and Dutch Bosch with the Finnish victory in 1990 continued with the triumphs of Belgian Patrick Snijers (1991, 1994) and of German Erwing Weber (1992). The victory desire of Austrian Raimund Baumschlager was fullfiled in 1993. Josef Sivík, the driver who participated in all previous years of the Barum Rally, started for the last time in the 22nd year and he reached the final fifth position. Top Czech
Enrico Bertone
drivers captured then the second half of the 90-ies. Italian Enrico Bertone became, thanks to the Czech licence and especially thanks to the Czech (and later Slovak) "country back home" a part of that top and he firstly won in Zlín in 1995. So a new name of European champion appeared on the Barum Rally cup, after Snijers and Weber. Bertone´s absence allowed to win to Czech Stanislav Chovanec in 1996, because it was him who managed best all the springes of the that year night leg.

A dominant element of the track of the 90-ies became a test polygon in the Tatra Kopřivnice car factory area. That perfectly suited both Bertone driving style and the potential of his Toyota Celica cars, and became a basic success of his victories in 1997 and 1998. How would Bertone act in the trial for the third victory with Renault Megane Maxi – this remained an unanswered question. Famous Italian retired after SS 1 and it was Polish driver
Roman Kresta - Jan Tománek
Janusz Kulig with Toyota Celica who rejoiced in victory. A Challenge Trophy for the Barum Rally winner could gain its permanent owner for the first time. A condition for that is a three-peat victory or five victories in total. Zlín driver Roman Kresta with company car Škoda Octavia WRC won the jubilee 30th Barum Rally Zlín, leaving back Italian Bertone. Kresta in his 24 fulfilled his big dream. The native from Trnava in Zlínsko became also the youngest winner in the Barum Rally history. Kresta triumphed over again in 2001.

In 2002 the organizers with Miloslav Regner in the head lived to experience a deserved evaluation – the promotion among the European elite with the highest coefficient 20! We could see totally 15 WRC specification cars and eight
Renato Travaglia - Flavio Zanella
drivers with FIA B priority! More than a quarter of million spectators was watching a dramatic rally and an exciting fight between two excellent drivers for the period of three days. Czech champion Roman Kresta with Octavia and Italian champion Renato Travaglia with Peugeot excited the spectators, when only Polish drivers Janusz Kulig with Ford and Leszek Kuzaj with Peugeot were able to compete with them. Kresta had an accident in SS 3 and it was Travaglia who celebrated worthily the victory. He did a significant step towards the future European champion title in Zlín.

Last year they were two drivers fighting for European title – Portuguese Miguel Campos and Belgian Thiry Bruno, both with Peugeot 206 WRC.
Václav PECH jun. - Petr UHEL
Home favorite Roman Kresta with Peugeot should also fight with them. Finally it was Václav Pech with Ford Focus WRC who won. Kresta did a mistake in the beginning of the rally and following day, after another mistake and some technical problems, he retired. Thiry, running third in the beginning, retired due to the broken engine and Campos was lucky for some points and second position after having some problems. Last year totally 128 crews from 12 European countries participated, we could see 18 WRC specification cars and 10 drivers with FIA B priority in the start!


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