Zoom Bouffier gearing up for a possibly rewarding final sprint

On this penultimate Barum Rally Zlin stage, Peugeot 207 driver Bryan Bouffier not only accomplished the fastest time, he might be able to reach the second overall position thanks to his push... and to a new mechanical problem affecting Nicolas Vouilloz.

Bouffier's run across the Kudlovice 2 stage was clocked at 11:58.4, a full 3.9 seconds quicker than Renato Travaglia's second-placed Grande Punto S2000, who was very closely followed by Giandomenico Basso's similar car, only 0:00.3 off in third position.

A long string of Peugeot 207 Super 2000s came next, beginning with Pavel Vasoulek's BFGoodrich car a few seconds down. Enrique Garcia Ojeda came next in the fifth spot ahead of rally leader Freddy Loix, who has apparently decided to reduce his pace at this point.

The same-make cars of Luca Rossetti, Janos Toth and Roman Odlozilik followed, while the Mitisubushi Lancer Evo IX driven by Jaroslav Orsak rounded off the top ten.

Nicolas Vouilloz is experiencing starter motor issues, which resulted in a costly stall that saw him drop 32.3 seconds on this stage, finishing 14th.

On the leaderboard, Freddy Loix's advantage has now grown to 1:16.6, and although Nicolas Vouilloz still holds on to second place overall, that might not last. Third-placed Bryan Bouffier will be giving all he can during the upcoming lengthy final stage, since only 6.5 seconds separate him from a higher step on the podium.

Pavel Valousek and Renato Travaglia are expected to maintain their respective fourth and fifth places. The real battle will be between Vouilloz and Bouffier on Barum Rally's final run.

Daniel BASTIEN
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