Filip Kohn takes points from Klatovy for ninth place

The opening event of our domestic rally championship was the 60th anniversary Šmucler Šumava Rallye Klatovy. As usual, a very strong competition gathered in Klatovy, led by the entire domestic top team and a total of twenty-six crews in the strongest RC2 group. Filip Kohn was not missing from the starting list, who is being navigated by the highly experienced Petr Těšínský this season. After challenging battles in the Šumava forests, the Kohn – Těšínský crew crossed the finish ramp in ninth place.

The Šumava competition is often accompanied by adverse weather, but the anniversary year was a pleasant exception from this point of view. However, just a quick glance at the start list indicated that the special stages would be really hot and no one in the top ten could be sure of the result. This was also reflected in the pace at which the crews set off to fight for the first championship points of the year. The reborn "Čínov" was driven by Filip Kohn in tenth place, which represented a loss of 0.73 seconds per kilometer to the leader Kopecký.

But the real Šumava only started on Saturday, at the classic tests of Mlázova, Mladica and Kepla. Filip Kohn took tenth, twelfth and ninth place in the first section, accelerated in the second passes and recorded eighth, ninth and seventh times. In the running order, he spent the night in 8th place. "The first stage and the clearly challenging tracks, especially Kepla, brought us a lot of experience and knowledge. Some sections were also driven as part of the Central European Rally, so it was a challenge. Our goal was clear and we knew where we wanted to move. Not to take reckless risks, stay in the comfort zone and gradually accelerate. We managed to do that in the first stage," Filip Kohn briefly assessed.

The Kohn - Těšínský pair also set very decent times between sixth and ninth place in the final stage, but in the penultimate special stage they received a 30-second penalty for a retarder. In the final total, this moved the crew to 9th place. "Retarders are treacherous in the domestic championship, because every contact brings a penalty. In the fight for victory, it would be unsolvable, in our case we only lost one position. We tried a different ALS map and we easily licked it on the exit from the retarder. It is a lesson for us for next time. We met the clearly set goals with which we left for Klatovy. Of course, we now have to analyze the data, we have to find where we lost the most and work on it," added Filip Kohn.

At the end of May (May 22nd - 23rd, 2026), Filip Kohn and Petr Těšínský will face another event, which is the fifty-third year of the Český Krumlov Rally.

Jan Koudelka