Slovenian crew Rok Turk and Blanka Kacin in Hyundai i20 Rally2 defended their title at Kärcher Rally Kumrovec. They’ve finished eleven demanding special stages finished 10.6 seconds ahead of Dominik Dinkel and Pirmin Winklhofer of Germany in Ford Fiesta Rally2. Third place went to Hungarians Andras Hadik and Krisztian Kertesz in Ford Fiesta R5 MkII with 1:30.7 off the winner’s time.
After the real drama in the Croatian Championship Viliam Prodan eventually finished ahead of Juraj Šebalj with only 2.3 seconds advantage. Along with the co-driver Marko Stiperski in Ford Fiesta Rally3 he has entered the ultimate Stage with a delay of 7.4 seconds, and then overtook Šebalj and Marijan Stublić who competed in the Toyota Yaris GR.
“Our performance at Kumrovec was for an A. We’re happy, we really didn’t expect such a good rhythm. In the end, we ‘took off’ Šebalj at the last Test after he was in front of us all day. We got up on the afternoon Stages and reached the fifth place overall in the first appearance in this car.”
Viliam Prodan (AK Opatija Motorsport)
“I had migraine problems in the middle loop and then I took a pill after which I got better, but I lacked those three Stages in the overall score. In the end, Prodan was ahead for a small difference, well done for him, he was very fast. We were good, the car was working well. Great rally, great organization and absolutely crazy Stages.”
Juraj Šebalj (AK Delta)
Third in the Croatian Championship were Nenad Hrvatin and Doris Labinjan in Peugeot 306, who finished 101.96 km of Special Stages tenth overall. Nenad Lončarić and Tajana Vojvodić Pinky (Subaru Impreza STI) finished 14th and Dario Šamec and Florian Šalec (Peugeot 206 RC) finished 16th overall. The victory in the club standings went to the members of AK Zagorje Oroslavje ahead of AK Opatija Motorsport and AKK Sveta Nedelja.
Excellent rides in Croatian Zagorje were presented by young Slovenian ace Mark Škulj. In his second appearance at the Kumrovec rally, together with co-driver Pia Šumer, he placed very high seventh in the overall standings in Opel Corsa Rally4. The entire competition was accompanied by sunny weather, a total of 80 crews started 12. Kärcher Rally Kumrovec, 59 of them reached the finish line. The reasons of withdrawals were mainly technical failures and crashes from which crews emerged unharmed.
