- Albert von Thurn und Taxis and co-driver Jara Hain (DEU) win in the Škoda Fabia RS Rally2 at the season opener of the Mitropa Rally Cup
- Italians Rino Muradore/Alex Petrigh (Ford Escort RS 2000 MKII) win the classification for historic cars
- Florian Auer and co-driver Elke Irlacher (DEU) win the internal Club Championship in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII
In extreme weather conditions, Albert von Thurn und Taxis and co-driver Jara Hain (DEU) win the Mitropa Rally Cup (MRC) classification at the Rebenland Rallye (28.-29.3.25) in Austria. In their Škoda Fabia RS Rally2, they were the fastest team to master the tracks, which had been turned into a muddy wasteland by the incessant rain, ahead of Hermann Gaßner jr./Michael Wenzel (DEU) in the Renault Clio Rally3. Third place also went to the Gaßner family, with Hermann sr. and co-driver Karin Thannhäuser (DEU) dropping their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X R4 to third place at the finish.
The 41-year-old from Regensburg von Thurn und Taxis initially struggled with set-up problems on the car. Gaßner Jr. took his chance and set the fastest time on special stages 2 and 3 and even took the lead in the MRC standings for a short time as a result. After the subsequent regrouping, von Thurn und Taxis countered, regained his lead and set the fastest time in the Mitropa Cup classification on all further special stages.
With this attack, Albert von Thurn und Taxis moved ever closer to double national champion Hermann Neubauer in the overall standings of the Rebenland Rally and found himself in 2nd place overall after the third-last stage. Neubauer countered and finished the Rebenland Rally in second place. Albert von Thurn und Taxis was overjoyed at the finish with his third place in the overall standings and victory in the Mitropa Rally Cup classification.
‘I'm totally blown away, it's amazing,’ said a happy Albert von Thurn und Taxis. ‘The fun was completely gone on Friday after the start, I was really scared of the track. We couldn't get the wet tyres to work, it was so slippery. But then everything worked and it was really great!’
Hermann Gaßner jr. finished the rally with the significantly weaker Renault Clio Rally3 in second place in the MRC classification and a respectable fifth place overall. ‘This is the first time we've driven this car in the rain and everything went smoothly, it couldn't have gone better for us,’ said the 36-year-old from Upper Bavaria.
The veteran Hermann Gaßner sr., 7-time winner of the Mitropa Rally Cup, took 3rd place in the MRC classification and thus completed the German triple victory. He finished the rally in eighth place in the overall standings.
In the classification for historic vehicles, the Italian team Rino Muradore/Alex Petrigh in the Ford Escort RS 2000 MKII pulled away from all competitors right from the start and finished the rally in this classification group with a start-finish victory. The German team Burghard Brink/Thomas Puls (Lancia Delta Integrale 16V) and the Austrian-German pairing Alois Nothdurfter/Walter Münch (Ford Sierra RS Cosworth) fought for second place before Nothdurfter had to park his Cossi among the rows of vines after a trip into the vineyard. That decided the matter and Brink revealed at the finish: ‘The motto was, don't take any risks, just roll through. Those were really unbelievable road conditions!’
The Hungarian team of Csaba Fehérvári / Imre Pozsonyi fought a duel with Lindner/Schütter (AUT) in the Toyota Corolla AE92 and finished third, but a technical defect in the Austrians' Ford Escort RS 1600 MKI decided the matter in favour of the Hungarians.
Florian Auer and co-driver Elke Irlacher (DEU) won the internal Club Championship of the Mitropa Rally Cup in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII. They were immediately followed by the reigning champion of this classification group, Martin Kainz and co-driver Melanie Kalinke (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX), who were in constant pursuit. After a defect in the turbocharger, Kainz was delighted to see the finish line at all and to take second place. Third place went to the Austrians Herbert Weingartner/Manuela Kampner (Subaru Impreza GT) and Gábor Zsebe/ László Mohácsi jun. (HUN) in the Škoda Felicia 1.6. In the end, Weingartner had to admit defeat, with the Hungarian taking the last spot on the podium.
