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04 July 2008, 18:38 (EET)

Paunov finished second on Uzana Hillclimb 2008

Nikolay Paunov finished second in the united classification of groups A&N on the 40th Uzana Hillclimb '08!

Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot started off with second time among all pilots. On the first qualifying round he finished behind Tihomir Zlatkov (Ford Escort Cosworth), who is competing in group X, which classification is separated by the classification of the united A&N group. Zlatkov's achievement for the round was 3:40.610 minutes. Paunov was 2.830 seconds back (or 3:43.440 minutes).
Nikolay Kiskinov climbed sixth fastest. He was 11.960 seconds behind Zlatkov.

Tihomir Zlatkov was first again on the second qualifying round. His time was 3:38.510 minutes. Now second finisher was Ilia Tzarski (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9) with a time of 3:39.830 minutes. Despite Paunov bettered his time by almost three and a half seconds he was third now - 3:40.070 minutes.
Nikolay Kiskinov was again sixth, just behind fourth Kostadin Shterev (Subaru Impreza) and fifth Jordan Todorov (Citroen Saxo). Beta Racing Rally Team's second pilot also bettered his time in comparison with the first round (by 3.360 seconds), setting 3:49.210 minutes.

Paunov and Zlatkov decided to stay at the service while third qualifying round was going underway. Kiskinov and Tzarski drove it, but they were not able to better their times any more. So, the start order for Sunday was: Tihomir Zlatkov, Ilia Tzarski, Nikolay Paunov, Kostadin Shterev, Jordan Todorov, Nikolay Kiskinov, etc.

In the first Sunday's round Nikolay Paunov set fourth best time (3:38.190 minutes), while Nikolay Kiskinov - sixth best (3:47.720 minutes). First now was Ilia Tzarski who finished for 3:36.810 minutes. The goal for Paunov was to chase Tzarski and the fact that second best here Shterev (3:37.960 minutes) and third one Zlatkov (3:38.120 minutes) were infront of our pilot was not important, because Shterev (like Zlatkov) is also competing in the separated group X.

Paunov finished fourth one more time on the second (and last) race round in Sunday (3:38.440 minutes). By achieving this, he successfully finished second in A&N. Now Tihomir Zlatkov was first for the round. He was really slow on the first occasion but now he "woke up" and finished for 3:34.810 minutes. Ilia Tzarski finished 1.170 second back (3:35.980 minutes), while third, one more second behind, climbed Kostadin Shterev (3:36.980 minutes).
Nikolay Kiskinov was fifth best now. He set time of 3:46.370 minutes.

So, with a total time of 7:12.790 minutes, Ilia Tzarski won Uzana Hillclimb 2008. He came to win just 0.140 seconds infront of Tihomir Zlatkov. Kostadin Shterev was third - 2.150 seconds back.
Nikolay Paunov took home 8 important points for the championship, because of his second place in A&N group. His overall time for both Sunday's rounds was 7:16.630 minutes. (3.840 seconds behind Tzarski). Nikolay Kiskinov finished fifth 7:34.090 minutes and a total of 21.300 seconds behind the lead.

23 June 2008, 12:42 (EET)

Ekaterina Stratieva achieved the best result of her career so far

Astra Racing Team pilot Ekaterina Stratieva finished sixth on the 4th Rally Victory Sofia 2008! It was the best result of her career so far, which came in the third year of her participation in the Bulgarian Rally Championship (BRC).

Only 18 crews passed the start-final podium of the event on Friday evening! There were three special stages on Saturday - "Svidnia", "Milanovo" and "Chibaovtzi" -, which were scheduled to be passed twice each. After the first pass Ekaterina was on seventh place. On SS1 Svidnia 1 and SS2 Milanovo 1 Stratieva finished eight, while on SS3 Chibaovtzi 1 she was seventh. Five cars retired from the event and only 13 reached the Saturday's middle point service area.

Seveth place in the temporal general classification of Rally Victory Sofia 2008 for Ekaterina Stratieva after SS3 Chibaovtzi 1.

On SS1 came the first retirement - it was the bulgarian champion for the past two years Dimitar Iliev (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9), who made one of his rare mistakes - he slid, hit the front of the car and damaged it bad. This was the end of his reign over BRC rallies! He won every bulgarian rally he has contested in from the beginning of 2006 untill Rally Victory Sofia 2008!

On the second loop of the stages Ekaterina bettered her times she had set in the morning. The biggest improvement came on "Svidnia" stage - the time on SS4 Svidnia 2 was more than 45 seconds better than the result on SS1 Svidnia 1!

Ekaterina Stratieva during SS4 Svidnia 2...

So, Ekaterina Stratieva/Rumen Manolov ended Day 1 of Rally Victory Sofia 2008 on seventh place in the general classification from total of 12 finished crews.
On first place, with a time of 1:10:28.0 hour were Jassen Popov/Nikola Popov (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9), who were 35.5 seconds infront of second crew Petar Gyoshev/Dimitar Spasov (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 8) and 2:17.3 minutes ahead of third Rumen Dunev/Hristo Hristov (Renault Clio Super 1600). Here is the classification to the eight place (if we don't count seventh Stratieva/Manolov): fourth were Krum Donchev/Stoyko Valchev (Peugeot 207 Super 2000), fifth Ivan Ganchev/Kiril Popov (Renault Clio Sport), sixth Tural Metkov/Vasko Hristov (Peugeot 206 RC) and eight Sava Dimitrov/Krasimir Mehandzhiyski (Daihatsu Charade).

After early serious problems with the car Jassen Popov was very fast in the afternoon and climbed up to the first place after Day 1!

Because of the cancellation of four stages of the rally in the days before the event (the two passes over "Simeonovo" and "Manastira" stages), the only stage, which left for Sunday, was SS7 Oborishte! It was the longest stage not only for the day (26.26km), but also for the whole event.
Not much after the start Stratieva made a mistake. She got off the road for a bit, but the Citroen escaped without any big damages and it was not a problem for her to continue. Stratieva/Manolov finished the stage 8th, because of that mistake - 2:05.0 minutes behind the winner here Rumen Dunev, who won SS7 by just 0.1 seconds ahead of the second Jassen Popov. Third for "Oborishte" was Petar Gyoshev (+14.4 seconds).

In the final meters of the last stage the crew Tural Metkov/Vasko Hristov, who were sixth till that moment, had clutch failure, for which they retired. So, Ekaterina Stratieva/Rumen Manolov took the sixth position!
The time of Astra Racing Team crew at the end of the rally was 1:35:52.6 hour! After two consecutive championship titles in N/2 class in the Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship in 2006 and 2007, and also the most important victory in the rallies so far - first place in N/2 on the biggest Rally Bulgaria (2007) - now the sixth place in the general classification of Rally Victory Sofia is the best result in the BRC for Ekaterina Stratieva/Rumen Manolov!

Ekaterina, her father Ivailo (middle) and Beta Racing Rally Team's boys, who hepled for Stratieva's biggest success!

Rally Victory Sofia 2008 - classification up to the 6th place:

18 June 2008, 18:34 (EET)

Third and fourth places for Beta Racing Rally Team's pilots in Varna

Beta Racing Rally Team's pilots Nikolay Paunov and Nikolay Kiskinov finished third and fourth respectively on the third round of the 2008 Bulgarian Touring Car Championship (BTCC) Varna Circuit (14-15 June).

After the first qualifying round in Saturday our pilots with numbers (for BTCC) 150 and 151 set sixth and fifth time respectively. Nikolay Paunov (151) achieved 1:35.093 minute per lap, while Nikolay Kiskinov (150) was only 0.306 seconds behind.

During the first qualify Paunov and Kiskinov were going one behind another not only on the track, but also as results.

On the second qualifying round our pilots set their best times for Sunday's start, but it was in force not only for them. Georgy Tanev (Subaru Impreza WRX STi N12), as a week earlier, set first time - 1:29.891 minute. Second best result was this one of Boris Borisov (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9) - 1:31.310 minutes. Third best result was this of Paunov - 1:32.177 minute. He achieved it on his seveth lap of the qualify.
Only 0.217 seconds back was another Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 pilot - Ilia Tzarski, who set his best result on the sixth lap of his qualifying round - 1:32.394 minute. Just 0.043 seconds behind "finished" Plamen Staykov (Subaru Impreza WRX STi), while Nikolay Kiskinov remained sixth with best time of 1:32.803 minute per lap. Local pilot Todor Slavov (Renault Clio R3 Maxi), who is competing mainly in the Bulgarian Rally Championship, was seventh with best lap of 1:33.222 minute.

Despite Kiskinov bettered his time very much on the second qualify, he didn't "switch" his sixth place.

On the next day the fight was fierce even from the start line itself! Georgy Tanev was overtaken on the very beginning, because some problems appeared on his engine, for which he later retired. Ilia Tzarski made a good start and as a result overtook Paunov, taking his position, while Boris Borisov was now first after Tanev's troubles.
Nikolay Kiskinov had a good battle with Plamen Staykov, who made a mistake some laps after the start of the race, - on a very slippery place he went off the road for a bit, but managed to continue, despite he lost his position to Kiskinov. Later he also retired, because of a problem with his Subaru, caused by the off.

The fight for the first place between Borisov and Tzarski was a big challenge for both pilots and extremely interesting for the public. Paunov was 6 or 7 seconds behind on third, watching for evetual mistake by one or both of them. Some 10 seconds further back was Kiskinov, who now was on confortable fourth place. Slavov was fifth, some 7 or 8 seconds behind our second pilot.

So, the classification was not changed till the end of the race! It was second consecutive third place for Paunov in the 2008 BTCC, while Kiskinov took his first points for this year's championship.

Third place again for Paunov after scandalous Dragon I Circuit week earlier.

Varna Circuit 2008 - classification up to the 5th place:

08 June 2008, 20:18 (EET)

Dragon I Circuit 2008: very interesting race with very strangely unpleasant end

Third place for Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot Nikolay Paunov on the first (out of two) edition of Dragon Circuit 2008!

Saturday's qualifies were separated in two rounds as usual. First on the track started the so called "small" X-cars. These were X/1 and X/2 classes. They were followed by classes X/3 and X/4. After them it was time for cars from A&N group. They were also separated - to below and above 1600cc.

Nikolay Paunov set his best time in the second qualifying round - 58.010 seconds per lap. This result was achieved in his 16th lap out of a total of 20 that he turned.

After the best result 58.493 seconds in the first qualify, now Paunov bettered his time by almost half a second.

Nikolay Kiskinov was other pilot, who achieved his best result in the second round. The best time in the first qualify for him 59.237 seconds was now bettered to 58.997.

Nikolay Kiskinov set his best time on his seventh lap of the qualifies.

On first place, and with a time of 56.083 seconds, was Georgy Tanev (Subaru Impreza WRX STi N12). He was followed by Boris Borisov (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9), whose time was 57.649 seconds. Both results of Tanev and Borisov have been achieved in the second qualifying round. Nikolay Paunov was third on the grid, while fourth was Ilia Tzarski (Mitsubshi Lancer EVO 9), who was one of the two pilots from A&N above 1600cc, whose best time came on the first qualify - 58.436 seconds. Fifth was Plamen Staykov (Subaru Impreza), who was just 7 thousandths ahead of the sixth Kiskinov.

On Sunday was the real race, which has only one round! Right after the start Ilia Tzarski hit the rear part of Paunov's car. As a result Paunov slid and went off the road. Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot managed to continue, but he already had lost many time and positions. Paunov started progressing very well and took back some of the positions he had lost. Finally, he came close to Kiskinov (now fourth) and Staykov (fifth), who had great battle for fourth place. On one of the turns Kiskinov made a mistake, for which he retired, but Staykov was also slowed down, because he was driving right behind him. Paunov had the biggest benefit here by overtaking both of them on this particular bend and went from sixth to fourth place.

Nikolay Paunov made the most of the mess between the retired team-mate Nikolay Kiskinov and his main rival Plamen Staykov.

At the very finish of the event Boris Borisov and Ilia Tzarski, who were fighting for the second overall place (Tanev was far ahead on first), made a crash, which was caused by Tzarski, who hit Borisov's car from behind, and both slid on the road! Meanwhile Paunov was already going not so strong in order to finish successfully, but when he saw them he pushed as hard as he could and at the last turn of the very last lap he managed to overtake Tzarski (who after the crash was still third) and got onto the podium!

Right after the race was over, Tzarski stopped his car on the third turn of the track, got out of it, which was the reason for the big quarrel and even punches between him and Beta Racing Rally Team's mechanics, who were watching the race, and were hissing him (like many other people) for his savage acts during the event. Despite his two hits to Paunov's and Borisov's Mitsubishis, Tzarski cut the road several times, which showed his lack of respect to the other competitors.
According some eyewitnesses, a stone has been thrown by one of our mechanics before Tzarski stopped his car, but maybe a video tape will show us the truth!
A bit later after this unpleasant incident, the drama was carried away in Beta Racing Rally Team's service, where (nobody knows why) Tzarski went and started kicking Kiskinov's car, which was brought back from the place, where he retired. Tzarski also hit a mechanic of the team, who had nothing in common to the quarrel minutes ago!

The crowd (mainly on the background), which came to see what happened in our service, was very much - almost half of the public on the whole event.

Ultimately, there were apologies by both sides, but the case will be decided by the Bulgarian Federation of Automobile Sport (BFAS)!

Hour and a half later Tzarski came to express his apologies to Beta Racing Rally Team.

25 May 2008, 23:11 (EET)

Nikolay Paunov and Nikolay Kiskinov fastest and third on the first ever Markovo Hillclimb

Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot Nikolay Paunov finished first one more time this year, but now it was on the open round Markovo Hillclimb!

Despite the fact, that this year's event wasn't scheduled in the 2008 Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship's calendar (it is a candidat for 2009), 15 pilots came to race against each other. Among them were Nikolay Paunov and Nikolay Kiskinov. This close to town of Plovdiv event (only 5km south) was home race for both of them and especially for Paunov, who lives in Markovo.

Everything began well in Saturday! On the first qualifying round Paunov and Kiskinov were first and second, while on the second qualify Plamen Staykov (Subaru Impreza) finished between the Mitsubishi pilots. The third round wasn't driven, because of the aweful meteorological conditions. Organizers, together with the participants, decided to cancel it for Sunday morning - before both race rounds.

Best times of the fastest three pilots were as follows: Nikolay Paunov - 2:41.440 minutes, Plamen Staykov - 2:44.990 and Nikolay Kiskinov - 2:51.610.

Second qualifying round for Paunov - second best time on the home stage above village of Markovo.

On Sunday everything started as it was planned - the ceremonial opening of the event was at 10:30, followed by the three rounds: at 11:00 it had to be run the third qualifying round, while at 12:00 and 13:00 - both race rounds.

Paunov and Kiskinov drove the third qualify to make their last test before both race rounds, which followed.
At 12 o'clock started the first car on the road - it was the EVO 9 of Paunov, who finished only 2:42.890 minutes later. Next starter was Plamen Staykov, who set off at 12:01, while another minute later it was time for Kiskinov to march forth. Staykov's time was 2:45.700 minutes; Kiskinov's - 2:48.760.

After the first race round Nikolay Kiskinov was 3.060 seconds behind Plamen Staykov.

On the last Sunday's round Nikolay Paunov set the best time for the stage so far, which will stay as a record at least to the next year's event, - 2:40.040 minutes. Second again was Plamen Staykov, whose time was 4.400 seconds slower. Nikolay Kiskinov also bettered his time and now was only 0.140 seconds behind Subaru pilot.

The total time of Paunov for both race rounds was 5:22.930 minutes, which was enough for him to take the win. Second and third were Plamen Staykov and Nikolay Kiskinov, whose times were 5:30.140 and 5:37.380 minutes respectively.

2008 Markovo Hillclimb winners: Nikolay Paunov, Plamen Staykov and Nikolay Kiskinov!

The general classification of A&N group was the same as this one of A/8 class because Paunov, Staykov and Kiskinov were all competing in there. Kalin Galabov (Citroen Saxo) won N/2 class. Second here finished Ivan Prodanov (Peugeot 106), while third - Georgy Ivanov (Dacia Logan).

Winner in X group was Atanas Bozhilov (Honda Civic), followed by Liuben Kamenov (Opel Astra) and Stefan Georgiev (Ford Escort). The classification of X/3 class (the only one in X group, which was formed) was Bozhilov - first and Kamenov - second. The third Ivan Shopov retired on Saturday when his Opel Astra's engine was seriously damaged.

12 May 2008, 15:21 (EET)

Two consecutive wins for Paunov after second round "Targovishte"

Second consecutive win for Nikolay Paunov in the 2008 Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship (BHC) and second consecutive second place for his team-mate Nikolay Kiskinov in the united A&N group!

It all happened on the third round of the 2008 BHC - Targovishte Hillclimb. The event, as every other bulgarian hillclimb race, began on Saturday with three qualifying rounds. A heavy rain started two hours before the first of them and, of course, the road got wet. An hour later it was a different picture - the clouds disapperead and the sun showed again as it was in the morning. As a result the road started to dry up but it was still damp, even wet, on the shady places.

It wasn't enough time however, for the road to dry completely, and it was a bit of a gamble for Paunov and Kiskinov, who started opening round first and second on the road. Despite this, Paunov set first result for the round - 2:49.290 minutes.

Despite the damp (and wet on places) road, Nikolay Paunov managed to climb fastest!

For the next two qualifies the road dried up completely, but here we have another "but" - it was still damp on the shady places, not only because of the rain today, but because it was rainy whole week.

Of course, Paunov bettered his time very much, because of the fact that 2/3 of the road were now completely dry. It was valid for Kiskinov too, whose time from the third round was 11 seconds better than the first round's result! Now, he climbed up for 2:42.260 minutes, while Paunov stopped the watches to 2:37.050 minutes. These times were enough for Beta Racing Rally Team's pilots to be first and second not only in the A&N group classification, but also in the general of A, N & X.

After cautious driving in the first qualify and his 5th place then, Nikolay Kiskinov made big step taking 2nd place for Sunday.

Next day's weather was bright and sunny and many people arrived to watch the competition.
Exactly at 10:30 the start of the event has been given and Nikolay Paunov set out first on the stage. Nikolay Kiskinov started only a minute after his team-mate. Beta Racing Rally Team's first pilot climbed for 2:37.720 minutes. In comparison with Paunov's best result from Saturday (which he set on the third qualifying round), today's opening one was slower by 0.670 seconds.
Nikolay Kiskinov's time was also slower than expected - he worsen his best result from Saturday (also achieved in the third qualifying round) by 3.420 seconds and finished for 2:45.680 minutes.

On the second race round Nikolay Paunov finally bettered his time - he went to the final of the 5.1-kilometer stage of Targovishte Hillclimb by a little more than second and half faster than the first Sunday round - 2:36.170 minutes. Kiskinov finished his race minute after him climbing this time for 2:41.150 minutes.

The total time of Paunov for both Sunday rounds was 5:13.890 minutes, which were enough for him to win the event and to take his second win for the year and also his second win on Targovishte Hillclimb after his first one in 2005.
Second in the united A&N group finished Nikolay Kiskinov, who was 12.940 seconds slower for both rounds. His overall time was 5:26.830 minutes.

As it was in Blagoevgrad Hillclimb, A/8 class, where Paunov and Kiskinov are competing, was created by just three cars. The third car in the class now was the Subaru Impreza of Hristo Parashkevov, who bought his car from Czech Republic last winter. Parashkevov haven't luck, because Subaru's engine failed as early as Saturday and there was not enough time for his mechanics to determine what exactly the engine trouble was.

Both namesakes Paunov and Kiskinov were "alone" at the podium after Parashkevov retired on Saturday afternoon.

It must be mentioned the strong driving of Tihomir Zlatkov (Ford Escort Cosworth), who is competing in the separated (by A&N) group X and more precisely - in X/4 class. If we join the classifications of A, N & X groups, Zlatkov would be on second place between Beta Racing Rally Team's pilots. His overall time for Sunday was 5:21.680 minutes, i.e 7.790 seconds behind Nikolay Paunov.

Next round of the championship is Uzana Hillclimb, near town of Gabrovo (28-29 June). There will be another hillclimb event before "Uzana" - on 24-25 May Markovo Hillclimb will make its debut as a competition, but this year it will be a candidate event for the 2009 BHC calendar. This race will be very comfortable for the pilots, who will participate on Rally Hebros (a week later), because Markovo Hillclimb's route is part of Rally Hebros' "Zdravetz" stage. So, the hillclimb event offers great opportuny for practice on this stage!

04 May 2008, 19:03 (EET)

First start and first successful finish for Stratieva and Manolov on Rally Vida

Astra Racing crew Ekaterina Stratieva/Rumen Manolov successfully finished Rally Vida, which was second round of the 2008 Bulgarian Rally Championship (BRC) and first event for the duo with the brand new Citroen C2 R2 Max.

Right after the official presentation of the car back in Wednesday, Astra and Beta Racing teams went to town of Vidin, which was the HQ of the second 2008 BRC round Rally Vida.
Everything started with the 2-kilometer shakedown of the event, held near Sinagovtzi village, around 20km south-west of Vidin. After all tests she made back at Dragon Circuit few days ago, now Ekaterina drove her new Citroen C2 R2 Max for first time in the woods!

Stratieva's car on the late-organized shakedown of the rally.

On the next day (Friday, 1st May) was the ceremonial start of the event and after it - the first four of all nine special stages.
Ekaterina began really cautious and her main purpose was to get used to the car. After the first passes through the special stages main impressions of the car (excluding that the C2 is much more powerful than the old N/2 Saxo) were that the new car handles very good and its breaks are really incredible! Experienced co-driver, who this season will be again next to Ekaterina in the car, Rumen Manolov also said, that the car is very good, but it have to be driven very hard!

Rumen Manolov began telling his expressions as early as the shakedown in Thursday.

After the last Friday stage - the super special SSS4 Vidin 1 - Stratieva/Manolov were 15th overall. Her time for the first four special stages was 3:28.5 minutes slower than that of the temporal leaders Plamen Staykov/Slav Landov (Secdoor Rally Team, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 8).

Number 15 and 15th overall place after Day 1 of Rally Vida 2008 for Ekaterina Stratieva/Rumen Manolov.

On Saturday morning Stratieva was visibly calm. She started to be more confident in her driving and set two 13th overall results (SS5 Granitovo-Oreshetz and SS6 Varbovo-Varbov most 2), and also one 14th place (SS7 Izvoz-Belogradchik-Oreshetz), one 11th place (SS8 Granitovo-Oreshetz 2) and her best so far - 8th place in the overall classification (SSS9 Vidin 2).

As a final result Startieva/Manolov finished 12th overall with a total time of 1:05:54.3 hour. They were 8:55.1 minutes behind the winners Dimitar Iliev/Ianaki Ianakiev (IRT, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9), who took the lead of the rally after Plamen Staykov retired on SS5, going off the road (the crew was OK). Second finishers of the rally were Petar Gyoshev/Dimitar Spasov (Prestige Rally Team, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 8). Their time was 33.7 seconds slower that winners' one. Third best crew was this one of Bulrace Jassen Popov/Nikola Popov (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9). They finished 1:41.2 minute behind Iliev.

Next round of the 2008 BRC is Beta Racing Rally Team's home event Rally Hebros (31 May-01 June).

01 May 2008, 01:19 (EET)

Today was the presentation of Astra Racing Team for the 2008 season

The official presentation of Astra Racing Team 2008 Ekaterina Stratieva/Rumen Manolov began today at 12:30. This year the duo will be competing only in the Bulgarian Rally Championship (BRC)!
Honoured guests of the ceremony were European rally champion for 2004 and 2007 Simon Jean-Joseph and his personal engineer Mathieu Thevenot. They were very kind to accept Astra Racing's invitation and came to make last checks of new Citroen C2 R2 Max before the upcoming Rally Vida (02-04 May).

The event took place at Automotor Corporation - the official Citroen diller for Bulgaria! Simon and Mathieu arrived around 10 o'clock to see what Beta Racing Rally Team's mechanics have done on the car before it was presented infront of the medias.

Simon Jean-Joseph (red-white Citroen shirt) and his engineer Mathieu Thevenot (in the center on the second picture) are specifying the last settings of the car.

It has become 12:30 and the car was exposed infront of the public and many journalists, who had come to the ceremony. Minutes later the official press conference started.

Astra Racing Team 2008 - Ekaterina Stratieva/Rumen Manolov and their right-hand man Simon Jean-Joseph!

On the press conference the program of the team has become clear - the team will contest all rallies in the 2008 BRC with the exception of the first round Rally Traianovi Vrata, which they missed because the car wasn't ready! If the team have enough budged it has the ambitions to take part in Barum Rally Zlin (Czech Republic), Elpa Rally (Greece) and Hella Rally (Slovenia).

The official sponsors of the team for this year's campaign will be "Automotor Corporation", "Bulgarian Properties", "Bulstrad", the new energy drink "Gold Street" and "Total" lubricants.

It was clear that the journalists would have interest personally to Simon Jean-Joseph! The questions asked to him were about what would be his program for this year and of course, if he will be helping to Astra Racing closely.
He answered: "This year, my activities will be directed mainly on the clients of Citroen Sport. I'll be "ambassador" of the company in the countries where there are purchasers of our new car - the Citroen C2 R2 Max. I haven't any program in a given championship for 2008, but from time to time I will contest some rallies. The purpose of these participations will be exclusively to promote the car, which we were developing since June last year. An example for such a rally was my participation in a round of the Hungarian Rally Championship earlier in the year, where I was in a great battle with the local pilots.
On the other important question I would say that we will be helping Astra Racing, but I thing Beta Racing Rally Team's boys have done great job and they don't need any help!"

The most important figures on the press conference (from left to right): Simon Jean-Joseph, Ivan Tenchev (leader of the press conference), Kiril Sandov ("Automotor Corporation" exclusive director), Ivailo Stratiev (Astra Racing manager), Ekaterina Stratieva and Rumen Manolov.

After the meeting with the journalists Simon Jean-Joseph and Ekaterina Stratieva went to preliminary chosen road near Sofia to make final settings of the car before Rally Vida. When they arrived back in "Automotor Corporation" Simon was very kind to be part of Astra Racing Team 2008's picture before he caught his plane back!

The crews of Astra and Beta Racing infront of the car together with champion Simon Jean-Joseph.

Tomorrow we are going to town of Vidin where in Friday starts the second round of the 2008 BRC Rally Vida.

24 April 2008 (EET), 19:25 (EET)

Ekaterina Stratieva made her first real test

Ekaterina Stratieva made her first appearance with the car, doing around 50 laps on the circuit near Kaloianovo village!
Despite the changing weather, which was going to failure the test, Ekaterina made some kilometeres to acquaint herself with the car.

Stratieva touched to her new Citroen C2 R2 Max for the very first time!

The test was not only familiarizing one, but also it was test for the reliability of the car, because technically, it is still in a testing period for chechking if some part would eventually brake.

Fortunately, the car didn't show any failures and pass exellent its first test driving!

In the next few days before the upcoming second Bulgarian National Rally Championship round - Rally Vida (02-04 May) Katia will make at least one test, because the team is leaving for Vidin (HQ town) in Thursday.

13 April 2008, 22:17 (EET)

Beta Racing Rally Team is prepairing for the first round

Nikolay Paunov's new car - his Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 - is almost ready for the first round of the Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship - Blagoevgrad Hillclimb (19-20 April).

Car's 2008 livery is completely finished. Undone work for now is the fine setup of the EVO - precise adjustmets are next to be defined before the first start of the season which kicks off next Saturday.

The biggest sponsor of the 2008 Beta Racing Rally Team's campaign is Autoimport TET Ltd., while the other Paunov's assistent this year is well-known, lasting several years, company SELT Ltd.

With the brand new car and livery on it, Nikolay Paunov will defend his title for fourth consecutive time!

Meanwhile, Ekaterina Stratieva's car is also improving in its preparations for the the season. Predominant 2008 colours of her Citroen - red, white and black - are done now!
The first test of the C2 is expected to take place later this week.

The newest "thing" that had been placed on the Citroen were its 2008 main colours.

06 April 2008, 19:08 (EET)

The engine of the Citroen C2 R2 Max was finally heard

Exactly 41 days after the arrival of Ekaterina Stratieva's new car - her Citroen C2 R2 Max, the car's engine stared up for the very first time yesterday (5th April)!

After the hard work that Beta Racing Rally Team's mechanics did, it was real relief and pleasant sound to hear! Now, there are just some small details ahead before the car will be fully ready for the upcoming season!

After Citroen's engine ignition, real relief appeared!

29 March 2008, 22:38 (EET)

New car for Nikolay Paunov - Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9

The new car of Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot Nikolay Paunov - Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9 - has finally arrived at the service-station of the team yesterday afternoon. This is the car which was used by Jassen Popov and his brothed Dilian in the 2007 Bulgarian Rally Champiosnhip.

Paunov's plans for the 2008 season are for full Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship and some of the events in both Bulgarian Touring Car and Rally Championships.

The pure white Mitsubishi of Paunov, with which he hopes to get the title in the Hillclimb Champ again.

24 February 2008, 18:06 (EET)

Citroen C2-R2 Max for Ekaterina Stratieva finally arrived

The long waiting for the new acquisition of Ekaterina Stratieva, which she will drive this season, finally ended, because her new Citroen C2-R2 Max arrived today minutes before 11am. Now there are no more worries if the car will be ready for the first round of the championship.

It was car's vision when it arrived.

The original date of car's arrival was going to be somewhere in the end of March, but fortunately it arrived in Beta Racing Rally Team's service about a month earier than expected.
It have to be mentioned that Ekaterna's car was the first ever Citroen C2-R2 Max to leave the factory in France. Other buyers of such cars have to wait longer to get their purchases. Of course, thanks to that earlier arrival, the work on the car for the first round of the championship, which starts in April, will be with less tension!

The process of assembling the car began immediately - first the parts had to be taken up from the boxes. They arrived with quite an amount of documents.

Because of this earlier arrival date, which was too early even for the manifacturer, some of the elements of the car didn't came with the main package. In the next few weeks the other 10-20% of the parts will arrive too. Though, the assembling process will not suffer because of that.

Half of the car's arrived equipment...

More pictures from the event:

04 October 2007, 19:09 (EET)

Paunov second again

Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot Nikolay Paunov finished second at Sofia Circuit - 5th round of the 2007 Bulgarian Circuit Championship (BCC).

After his third consecutive title in the Hillclimb Championship Nikolay Paunov decided to take part in the Sofia Circuit along with the regular 2007 BCC pilots Rumen Dunev (Renault Clio Super 1600), Stefan Georgiev (Subaru Impreza), Ilia Tzarski (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9) and Nikolay Zlatkov (Subaru Impreza). Newcomer in the BCC for this year was also local (he lives in Sofia) and famous rally pilot Krum Donchev (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9).

Despite his illness, Donchev came to drive for the public but he was weak enough to stop after first qualifying round on Saturday.

After the end of both qualifying rounds, first in the classification of the united A&N groups (both under and above 1600cc) was Rumen Dunev, whose time was 1:21.235 minute per lap. Just 0.180 seconds behind him was Ilia Tzarski (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9), while on third place, 2.280 seconds behind the lead, was Nikolay Paunov.

Of course, on the Sunday's grid Paunov and Tzarski started better than the 2WD Renault driven by Rumen Dunev. But on the second turn of the circuit Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot made a mistake, for which he lost his second place.
Later in the event the leader Tzarski retired, which meant that everybode would move with a place ahead. After Paunov understood that he can't fight with the powerful Clio Super 1600 and that Ilia has retired he drove with slower pace till the end to take 8 points.

After his mistakes Paunov had to be happy that he finished second in A&N anyway.

Sofia Circuit 2007 - classification up to the 8th place:

27 August 2007, 16:27 (EET)

CHAMPIONS: Nikolay Paunov and Ekaterina Stratieva!

Both Nikolay Paunov and Ekaterina Stratieva won the champion titles in the 2007 Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship (BHC). Nikolay Paunov won the united groups A&N, while Ekaterina Stratieva collected most points in N/2 class. It all happened on Peshtera Hillclimb 2007.

Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot Nikolay Paunov added one more champion crown - it was his third consecutive one!
Ekaterina's title was consecutive too - her second one! In 2006 when she won her first title in N/2 it happened on the very same event, but this time it was harder for her than last year!

In Saturday the weather was bright and sunny but the forecast for Sunday showed rainy last day of the week.

Fastest time for the first qualifying round (for all the groups - A, N and X) was set by Ilia Tzarski (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9) - 5:43.380 minutes. This start above the town of Peshtera was only the second one for Tzarski in the Hillclimb Championship this year, after he won his home event Panagiurishte Hillclimb. Second behind him was Nikolay Paunov (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 6) whose time was 5:45.700 min., while third, with 5:48.970 min., was Nikolay Zlatkov (Opel Astra).
Ekaterina Stratieva (Citroen Saxo) set the best time in N/2 class, finishing the 9.5-kilometer stage of the event with time of 6:31:250 minutes. This time was exactly 10 seconds faster then the second car in the class - this one of Ivan Prodanov (Peugeot 106), while third, 15.240 seconds behing Stratieva, was Kalin Galabov (Citroen Saxo).

On the second qualifying round Ilia Tzarski was first again. Now he bettered his previous time to 5:40.480 min., which infact stayed as the best time for the whole Satuday qualifying day, because he didn't drive the third climb, and no one set better time after this. Nikolay Zlatkov was second on this climb. His achievement was 5:43.010 minutes. Third stayed Nikolay Paunov, whose time was not so good - 5:46.970 min.
Ekaterina Stratieva was fastest again of all N/2 cars. Of course, to be in the top, she had to push harder now and she did, bettering her time to 6:29.040 minutes. Ivan Prodanov was second again with 5:34.300, while third, as it was in qualifying round one, finished Kalin Galabov with a result of 5:38.510 minutes.

After his poor result Paunov decided to start in the third qualifying round, but soon after he started the stage he felt a problem with the clutch, which forced him to slow down and eventually to pull over and stop completely in order to save the car. So, after this incident, his best time was that one from the first round (5:45.700 minutes), which meant he had to start third out of the 31 competitors who were going to race on Sunday.

Later in the night all boys of the team had to work hard to prepare the car for tomorrow's start!

First (i.e with the best time) in the third qualification finished Nikolay Zlatkov, who now couldn't better his best time and set 5:45.460 minutes. Second was Stefan Panchugov (Fiat Palio), who climbed the stage for 5:59.350 min., while third place this time was for Georgy Belchev (Renault Clio) - 6:02.710.
Ekaterina Stratieva continued bettering her time, but now Kalin Galabov made great result (for N/2, ofcourse) - 6:26.370 minutes. This time helped him to beat Astra Racing's pilot with just 0.120 of the second!

During the late hours of the day our team managed to repair Paunov's car and that enabled him to rejoin the field for this crucial event of the championship!
Sunday morning, just like 24 hours ago, was bright and sunny and it looked like the rainy forecast wouldn't happen!

So, the first of the two Sunday race rounds started!
Ilia Tzarski was fastest again on this opening round with time of 5:35.810 minutes. Nikolay Paunov set second time now - 5:41.620, while Nikolay Zlatkov was third setting 5:42.430 minutes.
After pilot Ivan Shopov (Opel Corsa) had a failure in his engine, a big amount of oil was poured out on the road. This affected on Kalin Galabov's time which was with 8 seconds slower than this one of Ekaterina Stratieva - 6:20.090 minutes. He, together with two more pilots (who started the stage after the oil leak), were escorted back to the beginning of the stage to restart their first round on clean roads. After he repeated the stage he set time even under 6:20.00 minutes - it was 6:19.860, but then Ivan Prodanov "answered" with 6:19.260 minutes and took the lead in N/2!

Just 5 minutes after the cars went back to the service area, which was held 200m before the start line, at the upper part of the 9.5-kilometer stage started to rain! None the less that it was for a bit, the rain was enough to damp the road. The hot weather on the previus days however kept road's temeprature high and soon enough, just before the start of the second race round, the surface dried completely.
The gamble for the tyre choice was really interesting and some of the pilots made a mistake and put "medium" tyres rather than slicks.

Paunov and Stratieva made the right choice putting slick tyres to their EVO and Saxo!
Unfortunately Ilia Tzarski, who had put slicks too, won again. It was obvious that our pilot pushed less this time in order to finish with no problems. This was in Zlatkov's favour as well and he overtook Paunov, as he did in the second qualifying round on Saturday. In the general classification of all cars from A, N and X groups after Sunday's two race rounds only 0.460 seconds separated both namesakes but this was with no mean for the classification of the united A&N groups because group's classification is separated from that one of X group where Zlatkov is competing in. This meant that (despite Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot was third of all the finishers) he was still second in the classification of the united A&N groups. Finishing on that place was more than enough for him to win his third consecutive title in the Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship!

The newly-old champion of the BHC Nikolay Paunov "is jumping" in the hands of Beta Racing Rally Team's crew.

The biggest fight in the event was in N/2 class, where after the retirement of Olga Stoianova (Opel Corsa) on Saturday (she was unharmed after the accident) there left only three pilots - Stratieva, Galabov and Prodanov.
In the second race round on Sunday Ekaterina made great time, because she bettered her old one by 4-5 seconds. The trick where you don't push so much on the first round played its role and deluded her rivals! She used it 100% and set the great time of 6:15.550 minutes, while Kalin Galabov was as fast as 6:16.120 min. Ivan Prodanov was "far" behind because the best time he could finish for was 6:18.790 minutes and because of that he finished third in the general classification of the class.
Ekaterina Stratieva won by just 0.340 seconds over Galabov and she deservedly won her second N/2's title in succession!

The first, who greeted Katia for her second consecutive title in N/2 was her father Ivailo!

Peshtera Hillclimb 2007 - classification up to the 8th place:

30 July 2007, 22:56 (EET)

Nikolay Paunov took second place on last week's Panagiurishte Hillclimb 2007

Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot Nikolay Paunov took second place in the general classification in A&N united group and finished first in his A/8 class! This happened in the 5th round of the Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship - Panagiurishte Hillclimb.

With that fifth round the championship was halved. Our team was in Panagiurishte town only with the Mitsubishi of Paunov, while Stratieva decided to miss this years event.

After the screwtineering teams left for the service area, which was held infront of the "Optico-Electron" building (1km West of Panagiurishte). Start line was some 400m away and the stage was absolutely the same as last year - final was again at the gates of the Asarel Medet fabric. Displacement of the stage was 250 meters.

In the first of the Saturday qualifying rounds in front was Ilia Tzarski with the new for him Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9, setting time of 2:55.990 minutes. Second, with 2:56.350 minutes, was Nikolay Zlatkov (Opel Astra), and third place was for Nikolay Paunov with time of 3:02.000 minutes.
Nelly Dimitrova (Seat Ibiza) set 3:33.100 minutes, which was 28th for that moment.

After first out of three Saturday climbs Paunov muse on his tactics for the other two qualifying rounds...

On the second round first three pilots bettered their times, but the classification remained the same: Tzarski-Zlatkov-Paunov. There times here were 2:52.990 minutes (Ilia Tzarski), 2:54.880 minutes (Nikolay Zlatkov) and 2:55.910 minutes (Nikolay Paunov).
Nelly Dimitrova also bettered vastly her time. Woman-pilot of Unigroup recorded 3:27.120 minutes.

The third and last round was absolutely identical as previous two and the first three pilots saved their positions for Sunday. The only difference was that Tzarski (2:52.030 minutes) and Zlatkov (2:53.710 minutes) bettered once again their times, while Paunov "released the accelerator", recording time of 2:56.730 minutes.
Nelly Dimitrova better her time again and she finished at her best on 3:25.590 minutes.

In Sunday, as it was on Saturday, the weather was sunny and hot. After the final of the first competitive round the classification from Saturday repeated on 100% - Ilia Tzarski climbed the stage for 2:51.130 minutes, Nikolay Zlatkov - for 2:53.120, while Paunov finished with time of 2:53.990 minutes.
Dimitrova was 27th in the overall A, N and X groups classification and record time of 3:25.180 minutes.

Paunov squeezed out all of his experience and his old EVO 6 to catch his biggest rival for the event - local Ilia Tzarski.

Second Sunday climb repeated already "banal" order Tzarski-Zlatkov-Paunov. Ilia bettered his time to 2:49.250 minutes, Zlatkov was down to 2:51.180, while Paunov - to 2:53.810 minutes.
So Ilia Tzarski won his home event with overall time of both Sunday climbs 5:40.380 minutes, second, some 3.920 seconds was Nikolay Zlatkov and third place was for Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot Nikolay Paunov, who was 7.420 seconds slower than Tzarski.
Nelly Dimitrova better her time once again, setting 3:23.270 minutes, but it was not enough to be any better than the 27th overall position of A, N and X groups and fatal 13th in the united A&N group.

Main rival of Nikolay Paunov for the last two seasons, Kostadin Shterev (Subaru Impreza) was behind the leaders in this fifth round of the championship. He finished 6th with overall time of 6:04.040 minutes. Infront of him was first place finisher in class N/3 Ignat Isaev (Renault Clio, 5th, 6:01.260 minutes) and his brother Stoian (Subaru Impreza, 4th, 5:57.120 minutes).

Next event of the calendar is Shipka Hillclimb (11-12 August), which will be held on the main road for Buzludja Monument, which is held in the central Balkan Mountains.

23 July 2007, 14:33 (EET)

E. Stratieva/R. Manolov successfully finished Rally Vida

Ekaterina Stratieva/Rumen Manolov crew finished 13th in the general classification and 3rd in N/2 class on the renewed Rally Vida.

After 18-year absence of the bulgarian rally horizon, for its 20th anniversary, Rally Vida came back! One of rally's organizers and participant as a co-driver in its last edition in 1989 was co-driver of Ekaterina Stratieva, Rumen Manolov!
Rally Vida made some innovations in bulgarian rally sport: firstly, on Friday, for the first time in Bulgaria, there was held Super Special Stage in the ex-fairground of the HQ town Vidin, secondly, the rally days were Friday and Saturday rather than the normal bulgarian rally format of Saturday and Sunday and thirdly, but not least, for the first time there was a Special Stage in settlement.

On Friday, Stratieva finished SSS1 Vidin 1 with 15th overall time (3:30.3 minutes), which also was 3rd in her class N/2 - 4 seconds behind Tihomir Stratiev (Citroen Saxo).
On Saturday, Katia set third time (in N/2) on SS3 Varbovo 1 and SS6 Varbovo 2, she was second on SS2 Oreshetz Granitovo 1 and SS4 Oreshetz Granitovo 2, she recorded first times on SS5 Oreshetz-Izvoz and SSS8 Vidin 2, and was 4th on SS7 Oreshetz Granitovo 3.

The crew was chased by problems here - in one of the Special Stages Stratieva hit a stone, which caused damage to the car and, of course, Beta Racing Rally Team's mechanics had to fix it. Another problem appeared when the intercom failed. It was changed with another one, but to top it all it failed too.

At the end Katia managed to finish, getting 6 important points. She saved her first place in the temporarily classification of the 2007 Bulgarian Rally Championship in class N/2 and now she have 32 points. Second, 2 points behind her, is Tihomir Stratiev, who has 30 points and third is Venelin Rangelov (Citroen Saxo) - 25 points.

From this week on Ekaterina Stratieva starts her preparation for Panagiurishte Hillclimb (28-29 July). The next rally event she will participate in is Rally Hebros (03-05 August) with HQ town of Plovdiv.

First in Rally Vida finished Boyla Automotor Sport's Dimitar Iliev/Yanaki Yanakiev (Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9) with time of 51:56.6 minutes, followed, 51.9 seconds behind, by Plamen Staykov/Slav Landov (Staykov Racing, Fiat Punto). Third were classified Rumen Dunev/Hristo Hristov (Melexis Renault Team, Renault Clio Super 1600), who were 1:02.5 minute behind.
The 2005 Bulgarian Rally Championship winners Jassen and Dilian Popov (OMV Rally Team, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO 9) started the rally well and were second on SSS1 Vidin 1, just 0.1 seconds behind Iliev/Yanakiev. Whole rally was good for them when on SS3 Varbovo 1 Jassen made a mistake and the car went off the road. The good news were that the crew was OK and the car's damage was not major so they continued but lost more than 11 minutes and a half, which was "enough" to lost any chances of winning the jubilee event.

17 July 2007, 14:31 (EET)

N. Paunov set first win for the season

Nikolay Paunov took his first win of the year - this happened on Osogovo Hillclimb, fourth round of the 2007 Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship, where last year he retired after problem with the car.

Our team left for the HQ town of Kiustendil in Friday afternoon. On the next day was the scrutineering and right after it pilots, together with their cars, went on the steep road heading for Bogoslov - the village where, only some kilometers out of Kiustendil, the service area was held.
Weather, as in Gabrovo, was sunny and hot, which created perfect racing atmosphere.
Most of the 2007 Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship regulars were present. On this event, as we are used to see mostly here, was local pilot Vasil Nikolov (Energetic Team) with Ford Escort.

After first Saturday qualifying round Nikolay Zlatkov (Opel Astra) set stunning best time - 2:54.340 minutes. Behind him, some 10.670 seconds behind, was Plamen Staykov (Fiat Punto), who during whole championship had problems with the homologation of his car. He finally was allowed to race in the united group A&N. Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot Nikolay Paunov was only 0.120 seconds behind Fiat Punto pilot. Veteran Tihomir Zlatkov (Ford Escort) finished 12.200 seconds behind the first time's pilot. Fifth was Kostadin Shterev (Subaru Impreza) on 14.540 seconds.
Ekaterina Stratieva took first place in N/2 class with time of 3:25.340 minutes (16th in the classification of A, N and X groups, +31.000 seconds of Nikolay Zlatkov). Second in her class was Kalin Galabov (Citroen Saxo), only 0.360 seconds behind. Third place was occupied by Ivan Prodanov (Peugeot 106), who was 3.150 seconds behind Stratieva.

Fastest in the second round was Alexander Antov (Lancia Delta), who finished with time of 2:56.030 minutes. Second, with 2:59.750 minutes, was Nikolay Paunov, and Plamen Staykov bettered his own time from the previous running with almost 4 seconds, recording 3:01.090 minutes.
This time Katia lost his first place and was beaten by Kalin Galabov, who reached the final for 3:22.440 minutes, while Stratieva was 1.560 seconds slower. Third again, this time 3.250 seconds behind, was Ivan Prodanov.

In the last third Saturday qualify Nikolay Zlatkov took his first place back and finished with the record time of 2:52.190 minutes. In this way he bettered his own best time (and by the way the best time from the previous two qualifying rounds) with 2.150 seconds. Second, with time of 2:58.340 minutes was Nikolay Paunov. This time our team's pilot drove on the third round, where usually we are not used to see him. Plamen Staykov was third, 1.190 seconds behind Paunov, and on further 0.550 seconds, fourth, was placed Tihomir Zlatkov. Kostadin Shterev was fifth again (+9.130 seconds).
Alex Antov made spectacular crash and couldn't finish last round. Good news were that he was OK, but bad ones - that he was not going to race on Sunday, because car was badly damaged.
After long day, finally Ekaterina Stratieva managed to beat Kalin Galabov in N/2 and on the third passing of the short stage she set time of 3:21.240 minutes, while Efco Racing pilot was 0.640 seconds slower. Ivan Prodanov was third, 2.850 secodns slower.

Everything on Sunday began as it was finished on Saturday, so first on the road started Nikolay Zlatkov, who ultimately set best time again - 2:53.640 minutes. He again was proved to be unattainable for the rest of the pilots, despite this time second best for the round Plamen Staykov was not 10 seconds behind, as it was on Saturday's first qualify, but only on 4.190 seconds. Beta Racing Rally Team's Nikolay Paunov took third place (+5.010 seconds). Fourth was Kostadin Shterev, who was further 0.740 seconds behind.
Ekaterina Stratieva set perfect time of 3:17.240 minutes, which helped her to beat everyone in class N/2. She "overtook" second best Kalin Galabov with 1.690 seconds and third best Ivan Prodanov with 4.290 seconds.

The second and last for Osogovo Hillclimb 2007 Sunday round was "taken" again by Nikolay Zlatkov, whose record time was 2:51.450 minutes. By setting this time he bettered his performance ones again. Second best was Nikolay Paunov with time of 2:56.930 minutes (+5.480 seconds). Third finisher was Plamen Staykov (+6.520 seconds). Kostadin Shterev's Impreza blew its engine, which sent him further down in the table - last but one 36th, 53.360 seconds behind.
For fourth consecutive time this season Ekaterina Stratieva was peremtory in her N/2 class and without any major problems beat her rivals. In the second Sunday running she set time of 3:17.120 minutes, which was 18th best in the classification of A, N and X groups. Second this time was another woman-pilot - Olga Stoianova (Opel Corsa), who was only 2.490 seconds behind. Perpetual third for this event Ivan Prodanov saved his position by finishing with time of 3:20.260 minutes. Venelin Rangelov (Citroen Saxo) was fourth, some 8.120 seconds behind, and fifth and last for N/2 (only for that round) was Kalin Galabov, who was further 0.710 seconds behind Rangelov.
By so doing Ekaterina Stratieva now is the only pilot of the 2007 Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship, who have won all starts in her class untill this moment of the season.

Osogovo Hillclimb 2007: classification in the united A&N group up to the 8th place:

12 July 2007, 12:13 (EET)

Ekaterina Stratieva finished first in her class N/2 at Rally Bulgaria

Ekaterina Stratieva won in N/2 class of Rally Bulgaria 2007 - the most important and biggest bulgarian rally, part of the European Rally Championship.

Rally started in Friday evening, when was the first special stage, which since 2003 is held on the streets of Borovetz resort - the HQ of the rally. Katia, with her very experienced co-driver Rumen Manolov, started the short 2.95km stage in 19:44 local time (+1 GMT), but only meters after start of the stage she lost ground and spun. This mistake delayed her and at the end of the stage she finished far behind on 44th place after that spectable for the public but hard for the crews special stage.

The second day began brilliant for Stratieva, when on 28km SS2 Muhovo she set 30th best overall time, which was first in N/2. On the same stage retired one of her biggest rivals, the pilot of Marina MS Tihomir Stratiev (Citroen Saxo). Other retirement in N/2 was Sava Dimitrov with Daihatsu Charade.
Katia continued her rally and on SS3 Slavovitza she set one more first time in N/2 (29th in the overall classification for the stage). On her way to the first service area of the day she was 30th in the overall classification and 1st in N/2, 30.2 seconds faster than second pilot Venelin Rangelov (Citroen Saxo). Other big rival, who retired on this stage, was Emil Denev also with Citroen Saxo.
Later Astra Racing pilot recorded two fastest stage times in N/2, on both SS4 Sestrimo 1 and SS5 Yundola 1. Thus she extended her lead over Rangelov to near 2 minutes.
Fully dominating Stratieva ended Saturday with another two wins in N/2 (on the second passing of Sestrimo and Yundola - special stages 6 and 7) and finished 27th in the general classification, almost 3 minutes ahead of Venelin Rangelov, which in actual fact ensured her safety Sunday driving.

Stratieva started third day of Rally Bulgaria with seventh consecutive first time in N/2 (on SS8 Magistrala 1), beating closest car of her class (Rangelov's Saxo) with 3.8 seconds. On SS9 Tzerovo 1 she won again, this time with near 20 seconds ahead of (again second best in N/2 for the stage) Rangelov.
On SS10 Magistrala 2, for the first time after SS1 Borovetz, Katia was not first in her class. This time winner was Stanimir Stoianov (Opel Corsa), who took 4 seconds of Stratieva's time.
One of the hard moments for the only one female pilot in the Bulgarian Rally Championship was on SS11 Tzerovo 2, where she hit rock, and as a result lost nearly 40 seconds to Stanimir Stoianov (again first in N/2 on the stage). For Katia's luck the service area was right after the problematic stage and Beta Racing Rally Team's crew managed to fix the problem letting Stratieva and Manolov to continue their battle to the last two stages of the rally - SS12 Belovo and SS13 Belmeken. On Belovo stage Katia drove perfect and restore almost half of the lost time on the previous stage, while on the next and last stage Belmeken she drove carefully and set second best time in N/2, 7.9 seconds behind Stanimir Stoianov.

Ekaterina Stratieva and Rumen Manolov meters before finish line of problematic SS11 Tzerovo 2.

This way Ekaterina Stratieva took her first win in Rally Bulgaria, despite it was only in N/2 class. Astra Racing young pilot beat everyone in her class! Second best there was Venelin Rangelov who was on the far behind 4:09.8 minutes!

Next event, where Ekaterina Stratieva will compete will be Osogovo Hillclimb, which will be between 14th and 15th of July near town of Kiustendil. Her "partner" there will be the old hand, double Bulgarian Hillclimb Champion and Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot Nikolay Paunov.

Winner of the 38th Rally Bulgaria was Dimitar Iliev with co-driver Yanaki Yanakiev (BAMS, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO9), who beat second best and 2004 European Rally Champion, frenchman Simon Jean Joseph (Citroen C2 Super 1600) with 17.9 seconds and third Jassen Popov (OMV Rally Team BulRace, Mitsubishi Lancer EVO9), who was 44.4 seconds behind.

D. Iliev & Y. Yanakiev were faster than ever!

So after 36 years pause from the last and only one bulgarian win of this rally it was time again bulgarian crew to be on the highest step of the winners' ramp! First bulgarian winner was Ilia Choubrikov and his co-driver and brother Kolio Choubrikov who won that time 1971 Rally Zlatni Piasatzi (translated Rally Golden Sands).
First car of the new formula Super 2000 was Fiat Punto of Corrado Fontana (Italy), who was 5th (behind 4th Krum Donchev), 1:21.0 minute behind.
It also have to be noted, that because of the contestations against Dimitar Iliev's car, there was midnight meeting of the stewards of Rally Bulgaria 2007. There appeared the decision that the case must be examined by higher institution - the FIA itself!
The conclusion that could be made from this situation is that the overall classification of the rally is not official and will remain the same till the end of the case with the sensor of the clutch pedal of Dimitar Iliev's car.

26 June 2007, 20:56 (EET)

Nikolay Paunov - second on Uzana Hillclimb 2007

Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot Nikolay Paunov finished second in the third round of the Bulgarian Hillclimb Championship near town of Gabrovo - Uzana Hillclimb.

After the scrutineering at the center of the town on Saturday, our team fastly went to the start of the event, which traditionally is held on the road to the Uzana Resort, 15km south of Gabrovo. Right next to it was the service area, where were the service tracks of the record number of competitors this year. As it was in 2006, the weather this year also was perfect for competition. It was sunny and even hot, and both public and teams were satisfied of that.

At 3p.m. o'clock sharp started the first qualifying round, where the old hand Tihomir Zlatkov set the best time, followed by his fellow family namesake Nikolay Zlatkov. Third behind two Sofia citizens and pilots of cars of the Hobicar group was Kostadin Shterev with the newly bought Subaru Impreza by Hristo Stoilov (the owner of Dragon Circuit). Fourth time was for Nikolay Paunov. Ekaterina Stratieva set 25th best time in the general classification of the three groups A, N and H, beating everyone in her class N/2.
In the second and last for Paunov round on Saturaday, our pilot set second best time (3.33.580min.), just behind Nikolay Zlatkov, 2.170sec. ahead. Kostadin Shterev was third, and Tihomir Zlatkov set fourth best time. Katia was again fastest in her class, but this time she was 23th in the general classification.
On the last third qualifying round Tihomir Zlatkov set the best time, second was Nikolay Zlatkov, and third - Kostadin Shterev. Ekaterina Stratieva was 25th again, and for third consecutive time beat everyone in her N/2 class.

Between the qualifying rounds there was much work for the mechanics of Nikolay Paunov and Ekaterina Stratieva.

After best times of the pilots of the three rounds were present, first with time of 3:28.430 minutes was Tihomir Zlatkov (Ford Escort, H/4), second was Nikolay Zlatkov (Opel Astra, H/3), setting his bes time of 3:30.940min., third was Kostadin Shterev (Subaru Impreza, A/8) with his 3:31.740min. Stopping chronometers on 3:33.580min. (time set on the second round), fourth of the field was Nikolay Paunov. Ekaterina Stratieva was first in N/2 with time of 3:58.890min.
The Unigroup pilot Nelly Dimitrova (Seat Ibiza, N/3) set 37th time in the general classification, 41.530sec. behind the winner Tihomir Zlatkov.

The Sunday racing day began well only for Ekaterina Stratieva, who was perfect, setting one more best time in N/2, but this time with the amazing 9.410 seconds, on the short 5.8km stage. Nikolay Paunov was not able to repeat Stratieva's work, because 1km before the flying finish he collected a puncture, which delayed him with 4.060sec. to Kostadin Shterev. But first in the whole event for that first round on Sunday was Nikolay Zlatkov, who beat Shterev with 0.090 sec., whose time was 3:39.000min. Tihomir Zlatkov had turbo problems and set 15th best time, far away from the leadership.
In the second round Paunov had to push as hard as he could to make better time than 4 seconds gap between himself and his biggest rival for the past two years Kostadin Shterev. Unfortunately for the Beta Racing Rally Team's pilot, he got another puncture on the second Sunday round. It was again rear right tyre, which "betrayed" Paunov. Despite this he could even beat Shterev this time, but only with 0.310 sec, which of course wasn't enugh to overtake Subaru pilot in the final overall classification, so Paunov had to satisfy himself with the second place in A and N groups. Nikolay Zlatkov was fastest again, setting time of 3:35.180min., beating second best for the round Paunov with 1.290sec.

The Sunday's second puncture was "the anger apex" of the day for Paunov and the boys from the team.

Ekaterina Stratieva recorded her third consecutive win in her class N/2, beating closest rival Ivan Prodanov (Peugeot 106) with 13.630sec. Third there, 14.550sec. behind, was Kalin Galabov (Citroen Saxo).
Nelly Dimitrova took 33rd place in the overall classification and was 8th in her class N/3. She made major mistake on one of the left hairpins of the stage, which nearly costed her retirement. With great reflex, she managed to take the car in right direction immediately after her moment and she continued her way to the finish. As a result Nelly lost the opportunity to fight for better position and on the final she was 55.410sec. slower than first there Ignat Isaev (Renault Clio). Second and third there respectively were Ivan Ganchev and Georgy Belchev, both with Renault Clios.