- 31-year-old Austrian Roland Stengg, with co-driver Rebeka Kobal (Renault Clio Rally3), wins the Mitropa Rally Cup classification
- In the historic vehicles class, Alois Nothdurfter and Manfred Cerny take the win in their Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
- Italians Federico Laurencich and Alberto Mlakar clinched the internal Club Championship title in their Peugeot 106 Rally S2
Roland Stengg and Rebeka Kobal, who had entered the Mitropa Rally Cup (MRC) just two weeks before the rally, dominated this traditional rally right from the first day.
Driving the Renault Clio Rally3, Stengg set four fastest times on Friday. Cup returnee Manuel Kößler in the Hyundai i20 R5 set two fastest times and went into the overnight break trailing by 21.2 seconds. Hermann Gaßner Sr. and Natascha Vrga in the unfamiliar Hyundai i20 R5 and Ralf Mangertseder and Tim Otterbach in the Toyota GR Yaris Rally2 were battling for third place.
Initially, Mangertseder was in the lead, and Gaßner Sr. was gaining confidence in the Hyundai; however, when Mangertseder suffered two flat tires in a single stage with only one spare tire on board, the battle between the two was decided.
Saturday’s 8 special stages covering 102 kilometers also did nothing to change the top 3 standings.
At the finish, Stengg won with a 30.9-second lead over Kößler. While Roland Stengg, who now represents the third generation of the Stengg rally dynasty in Austria, is delighted with his Victory in the MRC standings, Kößler reflects that the six-month winter break has likely thrown him off his stride a bit. Gaßner Sr. is satisfied with his 3rd place finish, which allows him to further extend his lead in the standings to 25 points.
In the historic rally car category, Alois Nothdurfter and his co-driver Manfred Cerny (AUT) in the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth left no doubt as to who was in charge. Despite his spectacular driving, the Italian Rino Muradore (Ford Escort RS 2000 MKII) didn’t stand a chance against him. Only 2 of 14 stage wins went to the Italian, while Nothdurfter set the remaining 12 fastest times. However, he was very lucky when the coolant hose on the Cosworth started leaking during the final stage, and he barely managed to make it to the finish line. The local team of Jörg Schieder and Marcel Baumgartner looked set to finish a secure third in their BMW 528i until Saturday morning, when they were forced to retire due to technical issues. As a result, the Italians Alessandro Pulz and Gabriele Nigris in the Ford Sierra RS Cosworth took third place.
In the standings of the internal club championship, the team of Florian Auer and Elke Irlacher (DEU) in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII had already built up a lead of nearly a minute and a half over the Italians Federico Laurencich and Alberto Mlakar (Peugeot 106 Rally S2) after three Special stages. On the fourth stage, however, Auer ran off the road and must now also count the Lavanttal Rally as a discarded result for the championship.
After Swiss driver Erich Stäheli also had to throw in the towel on day two due to mechanical problems, only two teams crossed the finish line. Behind Laurencich, Gábor Hulmann and co-driver Barnabás Szegő (HUN) in the Lada VFTS took second place, trailing by more than six minutes.
In this round, which also counts toward the Austrian Rally Championship, the teams faced a total of 14 special stages covering 149 timed kilometers and a total length of 370 kilometers.
