Competing in a Pirelli-equipped Clio Rally3 run by Chmielewski Motorsport, Kowalczyk began leg two with a commanding 54.8sec lead. Although that advantage would fluctuate across Sunday’s six stages, Kowalczyk and co-driver Jarosław Hryniuk were never truly threatened and triumphed by 43.8sec.
“It’s amazing,” said the 21-year-old. “I said on the finish line, ‘from the river to the winner because last year when I crashed I went into the river. This year I win the rally so I’m really happy. There was many, many work to get the money to start here and this is a great result for everybody who made this possible.”
Behind Kowalczyk, Casey Jay Coleman banked a career-best second to secure top ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy honours in the process with local ace Daniel Polášek third on his ERC3 debut having impressed at Junior ERC and ERC4 level previously.
Second-placed Coleman, from Ireland, said: “We were comfortable where we were but anything can happen so we were trying to be steady and fast at the same time. It’s my first time here and we’ve been setting fastest splits and got a few yesterday as well so we’ve got to be pleased.”
Casey Jay Coleman produced an error-free Sunday to finish second
© At World
Having been delayed by tyre damage on Saturday’s SS7, Polášek contemplated a push for second on Sunday but opted to hold station after a spin on SS9, Podhoran.
“I wanted to catch Coleman so I decided I would try to push but I pushed too much and we spun in a narrow section,” Polášek explained. “I can’t understand it but we didn’t hit anything and got out so we decided just to finish the rally by getting some experience with no more risk.”
Croatian Fiesta Rally3 driver Martin Ravenščak resisted Błażej Gazda’s advances to claim fourth place and equal his best result of the season alongside co-driving sister Dora.
Daniel PolC!E!ek finished a fine third in ERC3
© At World
Gazda settled for fifth in his Clio, but Chmielewski Motorsport team-mate and fellow Pole Sebastian Butyński was out of luck, going off the road on SS12 and momentarily blocking the road before he was able to continue.
After crashing out of the lead battle on Saturday, Adrian Rzeźnik restarted on leg two and was in seventh place until he stopped five kilometres from the finish of SS12.
Like fellow Polish teenager Rzeźnik, Tymek Abramowski failed to go the distance on leg one after contact on SS2 left his Fiesta with damaged suspension. Having won the last three rounds, Abramowski completed the finishers in seventh place to maintain his ERC3 points advantage with two rounds remaining.
“We just lose the rear in one left corner, very slow and we clipped a post I think but I still don’t know what we hit,” said Abramowski, who celebrated winning the ERC Fiesta Rally3 Trophy title ahead of Barum Czech Rally Zlín getting under way on Friday. “We broke the rear-right suspension and we had to finish. A bit unlucky situation and probably a lack of experience and knowledge from Tarmac but if we want to try to improve things like that can happen. Today we were testing a lot of things, trying to get experience and knowledge of these stages that are bit more polluted. We didn’t try to push a lot, we were just trying to get the confidence and a smooth pace, trying to avoid mistakes.”
JDS Machinery Rali Ceredigion hosts the penultimate round of the ERC3 season from 5 – 7 September.