Andrea Nucita scored his first outright win in the FIA European Rally Championship’s ERC2 category on Barum Czech Rally Zlín, but second place for Juan Carlos Alonso gave the Argentine the title lead.

Nucita, who also won the Abarth Rally Cup for Loran SRL, was handed a clear path to victory when arch rival Dariusz Poloński retired with transmission failure on Saturday, although the Pole returned on Sunday to score an ERC2 podium and second in the Abarth Rally Cup.

Alonso had issues of his own on Saturday with a broken limited-slip differential costing him several minutes. But he hung on to score his third podium of the year to take a five-point title lead over Nucita.

Zelindo Melegari had led ERC2 heading to the Czech Republic but crashed out on leg one. Both he and co-driver Corrado