The penultimate event of the Czech Rally Championship (MČR) visited the West Bohemian roads. Rally Pačejov was included among the "big" two-day competitions only last year, and for this year's edition, the organizers prepared several new stages to revive the competition and to indulge the spectators in exciting battles.
Last year's premiere edition of the Rally Pačejov within the MČR was dominated by Jan Kopecký and his co-driver Jan Hloušek. This year, this crew had the same goal, even though they had already defended their championship title at the Barum Rally. Together with 12 other crews with ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 or Rally2 evo cars, they took to the West Bohemian stages over the course of the weekend to battle it out for valuable points in the final standings. Other ŠKODA dealer crews were also present at the start, such as Filip Mareš/Radovan Bucha and Jan Černý/Petr Černohorský, who were in the second and third places in the championship before the start of the event.
Rally Pačejov 2021 started on Saturday morning near Horažďovice and continued with seven more stages in the surrounding area. In total, the crews completed over 67 sharp kilometres, during which they fought for the best possible position. However, Jan Kopecký guarded the first place from the second measured section until the end of the competition. He therefore repeated his victory from 2020 and also confirmed that he can win on new tracks. "I still think of the stages of the Pačejov Rally as of something new. We revived something by starting last year, but this year the direction was reversed on some of the tests, and that was new. Fortunately, despite the pressure of the competition, we avoided making any mistakes and we drove with Honza Hloušek for another victory this year. I would like to thank my team for the traditionally well prepared car and quality facilities. We all really enjoyed one of the last race weekends of the year," said Jan Kopecký.
Despite the clear winner, the enthusiastic fans were also treated to some interesting battles. A total of three crews with ŠKODA FABIA Rally2 evo cars fought for the third place, which went to Filip Mareš and his co-driver Radovan Bucha. They had one more reason to rejoice, namely the celebration of winning the vice-championship title.
