Kris Meeke defends championship lead

Peugeot UK’s Kris Meeke overcame the difficult conditions that marked the first leg of the 2009 Barum Czech Rally Zlin to successfully defend his lead in the provisional IRC standings by finishing second overall behind the local star and firm favourite Jan Kopecky. Both of Peugeot Belgium-Luxemburg representatives were eliminated, returning the team’s first blank scorecard since its debut in 2008.

Prior to the start, Kris Meeke declared that his target in the Czech Republic against his main rival in the 2009 Intercontinental Rally Challenge – who had the advantage of competing on home turf – was to score as many points as possible with a view to defending his current lead in the series ahead of the championship’s last three rounds. His weekend got off to a poor start when a puncture saw him lose around half a minute which dropped him to 33rd place. Despite this early setback, however, the Briton’s quick, consistent run in the Kronos-prepared 207 Super 2000 enabled him to profit from the troubles and mistakes of his rivals to bag second overall. The result keeps him at the top of the provisional IRC standings with a three-point advantage over the Barum Rally winner, Czech driver Jan Kopecky.

Nicolas Vouilloz enjoyed a better start to the weekend but was sidelined when his car caught fire on SS4: "An engine mounting nut broke, which is an incident we have never previously come across with any 207 Super 2000 until now," reported Marc Van Dalen, the Sporting Director of Kronos Racing, the company which prepares the Peugeot Belgium-Luxemburg cars. "The vibrations which resulted from this failure affected the front driveshaft which in turn led to a fuel pipe breaking, and the car caught fire. Spectators were soon on the scene to help ’Nicos’ and fight the flames, but significant damage was done."

Belgium’s Freddy Loix figured as high as second overall but was caught out early on the second leg: "The grip was different for practically every corner. I wanted to make the most of my position to try to challenge for victory. Unfortunately, I hit a concealed stone on the side of the stage and the impact broke my suspension." Second place for Kris Meeke and fourth place for fellow 207 Super 2000 driver Roman Kresta mean that Peugeot is now almost sure of winning the IRC Manufacturers’ title for the third straight year.

Final positions :

1. Jan KOPECKY-Petr STARY (Skoda Fabia S2000) 2:24:21.1

2. Kris MEEKE-Paul NAGLE (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 1:00.4

3. Juho HANNINEN-Mikko MARKKULA (Skoda Fabia S2000) + 2:00.8

4. Roman KRESTA-Petr GROSS (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 2:10.8

5. Martin PROKOP-Jan TOMANEK (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 2:39.6

6. Pavel VALOUSEK-RUZA (Skoda Fabia S2000) + 4:50.4

7. Janos TOTH-Robert TAGAI (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 5:19.7

8. Vaclav PECH-Petr UHEL (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX) + 5:23.2

9. Michal SOLOWOW-Maciej BARAN (Peugeot 207 S2000) + 5:53.2

10. Luca ROSSETTI-Matteo CHIARCOSSI (Abarth Grande Punto S2000) + 7:03.7

Drivers' standings :

1. MEEKE 42 points

2. Kopecky 39

3. LOIX/Basso 27

5. Hanninen 20

6. VOUILOZ 19

7. OGIER/Tundo 10

9. MAGALHAES/Cavenagh 8

Manufacturer's standings :

1. Peugeot 95 points

2. Skoda 59

3. Mitsubishi 42

4. Abarth 34

5. Proton 5

The next round is Spain’s Rally Principe de Asturias on September 10-12.