German crew Dominik Dinkel and Pirmin Winklhofer in Ford Fiesta Rally2 are the leaders after the first day of the 12th Kärcher Rally Kumrovec. They took the advantage of a mistake by the defending champions, Slovenians Rok Turk and Blanka Kacin who spinned on the second, night Stage Tuhelj. Dinkel and Winklhofer will enter the Saturday’s Tests with a 2.9-second lead, while they are 7.3 seconds away from the third-placed Hungarians Andras Hadik and Krisztian Kertesz in a Ford Fiesta R5 MkII. Vlastimil Majerčak and Jakub Slovak in Ford Fiesta Rally2 (+19,3) and the fastest 2WD crew Mark Škulj and Pia Šumer in Opel Corsa Rally4 (+22,9) followed.
Top-ranked Croatian crew Juraj Šebalj and Marijan Stublić in Toyota Yaris GR holds the sixth position with 22.9 seconds behind the leaders. Right next to them settled Viliam Prodan and Marko Stiperski in Ford Fiesta Rally3. An excellent result was achieved by Nenad Hrvatin and Doris Labinjan, who reached the 13th position with Peugeot 306. Leaders of the Croatian Championship Hungarians Janos Szilagyi and co-driver Robert Balai in Peugeot 208 Rally4 finished the first Stage on 21st position, but later they withdrew from the rally due to gearbox failure and electronics problems.
„It was good and that’s it. I’m not eloquent at the start, I’m saving the words for the finish”, Juraj Šebalj stated shortyl about his drive at the Stage Tuhelj, reffering to nine more demanding Special Stages on Saturday. Unforunately, without Austrian-German crew Daniel Mayer i Alessandra Baumann, whos crash caused a delay of the first Stage Tuhelj. The crew is ok and after removal of the car, the rest of the crews have finished the stage.
Saturday’s programme will start at 9:15 with a Ceremonial Start at the Museum Staro Selo in Kumrovec. At the very same place first crew will arrive at 17:45 for the Closing Ceremony. Special Stages Desinić, Zagorska Sela and Kumrovec will be driven three times. Special location for the spectators this year also will be at the elementary school playground at Kumrovec, where it will be possible to watch the competition with eno-gastronomic offer of Hrvatsko Zagorje or to try the full-motion rally simulator HeliDrive, official simulator of Kärcher Rally Kumrovec.
