ERC difficulty Czech for Suninen The Hunted

FIA European Rally Championship leader Teemu Suninen is playing down his prospects of back-to-back ERC victories when he makes his Barum Czech Rally Zlín debut this week (14 – 16 August).

Suninen raced into a 23-point lead by winning last month’s 82nd Rally Poland in the Pirelli-equipped Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 he shares with co-driver and fellow Finn Antti Haapala.

But with Barum Czech Rally Zlín turning the difficulty levels up yet another notch, Suninen’s focus is on making it through the hugely demanding 205.79-kilometre route without delay.

Featuring high-speed forest sections, narrow stretches through villages, bumpy and sometimes broken roads, plus unpredictable weather, Barum Czech Rally Zlín has tested the ERC stars and their cars since 1984 and Suninen is wary of the challenge in store.

“I’ve heard a lot of stories about [the challenging stages in Zlín] and that’s why I wanted to make sure I could win in Poland to get the good position in the championship and drive a bit more carefully in Czech,” The Racing Factory driver, 32, said. “Those roads are super-tricky and the levels of the locals are incredible so it’s not going to be easy to drive for a podium.”

From being the hunter after two rounds, Suninen became the hunted when he finished second on Rally di Roma Capitale in early July to take a three-point championship lead, a result he followed up by banking his breakthrough ERC win in Poland two weeks later.

The ERC’s recent visit to Poland was also significant for Lancia-powered Andrea Mabellini and Michelin’s reigning European champion Miko Marczyk. The home hero completed the podium behind Suninen and emerging prospect Jakub Matulka to move into third in the title order, while Mabellini finished 2.6sec behind Marczyk to climb to second in the standings.

“Poland was better than on the start of the season and I hope we will keep like that on the Barum Rally because it’s a good sign,” Marczyk said. “Fifth place is our best score [in Zlín], and it will be really perfect if we can make a new record for us.”

Italian Mabellini finished third in Zlín 12 moths ago and will be a contender for another top result on round five of the seven-event ERC season. “It seems like we’re going in the right direction,” he said. “Some things can be improved but we are speaking about one tenth per kilometre. It means it’s just a few things, but they are the difficult ones to find. But we can build on it [in Zlín].”

Once again, a hugely strong line-up of Czech drivers will be in action on their home ERC counter. They include 2013 European champion Jan Kopecký, Hankook-supplied 2019 Junior ERC1 champion Filip Mareš, multiple ERC event winner Václav Pech, MRF-shod Erik Cais and ERC stage winner Adam Březík. However, Dominik Stříteský, the winner in Zlín in 2024, has withdrawn to fully recover from his high-speed crash on 82nd Rally Poland.

Other expected frontrunners include Simon Wagner, a double podium finisher in Zlín, British champion William Creighton and multiple Romanian title winner Simone Tempestini.

First ERC title of 2026 up for grabs in Zlín
Casey Jay Coleman, Kalum Graffin, Petr Kačírek and Ville Vatanen will face-off for the ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy title on Barum Czech Rally Zlín with a Fiesta Rally2 prize drive on JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion up for grabs. With four rounds of the M-Sport Poland series run, Finn Vatanen is seven points ahead of Irishman Coleman after he secured victory number two of 2026 on 82nd Rally Poland. Czech Kačírek is third in the current order, 23 points behind Vatanen with Graffin, another Irish contender, three points further back. While Kačírek and Graffin have significant ground to make up in the title race, with a maximum of 30 points on offer in Zlín, both remain in contention for top honours.

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