On our Youtube channel You can find video recordings of all special stages on the 7th INA Rally Kumrovec 2018!

Prologue Terme Tuhelj:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRK_0vPyUC4 

SS 1,2 - Kumrovec 1,2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUTq3ZtmgA8

SS 3,4 - Zagorska Sela 1,2:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig8wiopIRDI

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Actual winner of INA Rally Kumrovec Niki Mayr-Melnhof is coming back to Croatia to defend the title. He will be driving with new co-driver, but he will be aiming high for sure. Special stages of Rally Kumrovec will be the perfect preparation for him, for the next round of Austrian Championship. He took some time to answer some of our questions.

1. You are coming to Croatia once again, after such a dominant win  last year, you will be defending the title. What are your expectations, since you won’t be driving with Poldi Welsersheimb?

First of all thank you very much for inviting me back to beautiful Kumrovec in Croatia. Its been a real pleasure driving in Kumrovec last year and with the sweet win at the end it was an amazing experience for us. As I´m still pretty new to rallying it was my first ever Rallye win, which I will for sure remember for a long time.

Surely I´m a little sad not to come back with Poldi, but he has some important business to take care of! On the other hand with Thomas Zeiser I have a very experienced and professional co-driver on my side, and we already did a lot of testing. 

2. How do you like the concept of the Rally Kumrovec – short itinerary with almost 70% of special stages, not many opportunities to make a mistake and come back later?

It's a very attractive concept which I like a lot. It has very difficult, quick and narrow stages, which leaves no room for any errors. And most of all it's perfect for the fans, which there were plenty last year round. They get very close to the action and because it's such a compact Rallye, they can see a lot of the action.

3. Can you compare the special stages of Rally Kumrovec with the ones in the Austrian championship?

It is very much comparable with the Rebenland Rallye in the Austrian Championship which will take place two weeks later. So it is a perfect preparation for us to get back into the rhythm.

4. You were unlucky at the season opening. How will your retirement at Janner rallye effect the rest of the season?

The technical retirement at the Jännerrallye was very unfortunate, but we learned a lot and I got a lot of confidence in the car now after diving in this very difficult conditions. The whole Drift company Team worked really hard for this Rallye and it was just not meant to be, but we will be back next year even stronger. As it's just the beginning of the season I´m not worried at all, and there are still a lot of points up for grabs.

5. You had a several starts last season with Audi. Will you compete in circuit races this year also?

The plan is to fully focus on rallying this year and not to do a whole championship in GT with Audi. But if anything comes up at the Nordschleife I might reconsider.

2016

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2015

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On this pages you will be able to find out all official documents from competition on virtual notice board.

Click here to download Information No 1 and Appendix 3.

Couple of weeks prior to the start of Kumrovec rally organizer recived good news from the president's office. President of the Republic of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic has confirmed hers patronage of the 5. INA Rally Kumrovec 2016. The organizer in this occasion called the president to the most famous village in the world to symbolicaly mark the start of the race by raising the Croatian flag in front of the vehicle with starting number 1.

International 5. INA Rally Kumrovec will gather crews from six countries of the region. Nearly 70 crews announced their appearance and the registration process is open until 26. February. On the first day of the competition, on Friday, 4. March, Kreator TV will broadcast live the first special stage which will be held in the parking lot of Terme Tuhelj. After the inital two special stages that will have show-character, scoring part of the competition will be held on Saturday, 5. March at the circular track above Kumrovec. Itinerary is 51.40 km long, out of which 42.54 km will be special stages.

The specificity of Kumrovec stages lies in a narrow track with many linked curves and crests. Often lots of gravel gets on the asphalt which is put out of the roadside as drivers select the ideal line. For years, the audience recognizes Rally Kumrovec as an event that brings attractive rides with lots of jumps. In the previous four rallies Hungarian driver Janos Szilagyi was the best in such conditions. He has won three times, and in 2013 he had to withdraw after half of the rally due to illness of his co-driver while he held the lead. Daniel Šaškin of Porec has one victory in Kumrovec.

Almost a month prior to the start of the 5. INA Rally Kumrovec 2016, more than 60 competitor crews have entered for the event. With the prevailing 40 crews from Croatia, one-third comes from the surrounding countries - Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary, Italy and Austria. Among the most attractive ones certainly are triple winners Janos Szilagyi and Botond Csanyi with Peugeot 207 S2000, and winner of the Rally Kumrovec 2013 Daniel Saskin with Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X, who is still intensively searching for a co-driver.

The strongest class 1 consisting of the 4-wheel drive vehicles with mentioned Szilagyi and Saskin has another nine crews that will certainly fight for the top standings. Hungarian Sandor Olle has entered with Ford Fiesta S2000, while his compatriots Antal Kovacs and Zoltan Lencse entered with Fiestas R5. Always quick Slovenes Darko Peljhan with Lancer EVO X and Bostjan Logar with Subaru Impreza N14 also entered the event.

Interesting battles are expected in the so-called small classes. Viliam Prodan and Zdravko Drazenovic are coming to warm up for the Mitropa Rally Cup which starts on 18 and 19 March in Austria. With their top prepared Peugeot 208 R2 they will compete for the first time in Kumrovec since 2012 and try to overcome the crest which is among the rally drivers popularly called "Prodan's jump". The main competitors for the top will be Hungarians Sabolcs Borbas and Gergely Harmos in a Citroen DS3 R3T and two other Croatian crews with Mitropa experience Tomas Hrvatin and Marko Stiperski in Renault Clio RS and Ivica Siladić and Jasna Durak in Skoda Fabia R2.

For the first time in Kumrovec appearance of crews from Italy is expected. Acco Lino with co-driver Serena Annapaolo announced arrival with Renault Clio Maxi who, despite the older date of production is still very competitive on tarmac special stages. Angelo Martinis and Silvia Mosena with Citroen Saxo VTS, as well as Stefano Tavano and Dario Andrian with Honda Civic Vti are also on the entry list.

On Kumrovec special stages motorsport fans will be able to see vintage Ford Escort MK1 of Kresimir Ravenscak in one asphalt rally after four years of break. Among the entrants there can be found several interesting historical vehicles such as Fiat 126 od Marko Oto Juricev Martincev, Zastava 850 of Andrej Mrak or Lada 2107 of Gabor Wojtek.

There will be no lack of octane excitements on 5. INA Rally Kumrovec 2016. The prologue in the parking lot of Terme Tuhelj will be held on Friday 4. March, and the rally will continue with special stages in Kumrovec on Saturday. Entry procedure for participation is open until Friday 26 February.

Video announcement:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8U9Mv5kzvQ