- Manuel Kößler and Benedikt Hofmann won the Mitropa Rally Cup (MRC) classification in their Hyundai i20 R5 at the 41st TIKI Rally Velenje
- Italians Alessandro Pulz and Stefano Ierman took the top spot on the podium in the historic vehicles category in their Ford Sierra RS Cosworth
- Italians Federico Laurencich and Alberto Mlakar secured the internal Club Championship title in their Peugeot 106 Rally S2
The German team of Manuel Kößler and Benedikt Hofmann left no doubt from the very start that they mean business in this year’s Mitropa Rally Cup (MRC) in their Hyundai i20 R5. With a spectacular start-to-finish victory, the team took first place on the podium ahead of Albert von Thurn und Taxis and Jara Hain in their Škoda Fabia RS Rally2. However, the nearly 4-minute gap can be attributed to a flat tire that von Thurn und Taxis picked up on the 7th special stage. The battle for third place unfolded within a margin of just 3.5 seconds. Although Italian Cristian Terpin had already moved up to third place in his Peugeot 208 Rally4 on Friday evening, his pursuers – Fabian Schulze in an identical car and Hermann Gaßner Sr. in a Hyundai i20 R5 remained hot on his heels. Despite a time penalty imposed by the stewards, Terpin remained on course for the podium in third place and defended his position with a 2.9-second lead over Schulze. Gaßner Sr./Natascha Vrga had to settle for fifth place, trailing by a razor-thin margin of 0.6 seconds. In the championship standings, Kößler and Gaßner are now tied for first place after four of ten rounds.
After the leader in the historic car championship, Italian Rino Muradore and his co-driver Cristina Delbello, had already built up a lead of over a minute over his compatriot Alessandro Pulz in a Ford Sierra RS Cosworth during the first two special stages on Friday in their Ford Escort RS 1800 MKII, the Escort’s engine simply refused to start after the break. Only under the Super Rallye regulations was Muradore then able to return to the start on Saturday with a 10-minute time penalty. Although Muradore came back into the race with 5 out of 5 possible stage wins, he was unable to catch up to Pulz and had to settle for 4th place at the finish. Second in this class was Angelo Martinis (ITA) in the Opel Corsa B GSi, ahead of the Hungarian János Dunavölgyi (Lada Samara 21080). Rino Muradore continues to lead the championship with a 27-point lead over the Hungarian Dunavölgyi.
The Italian duo of Federico Laurencich and Alberto Mlakar in the Peugeot 106 Rally S2 once again claimed victory in the internal club championship. Laurencich cruised to an unchallenged win with 9 out of 9 stage wins, further extending his lead in the championship. However, the battle for second place was fierce. Hungarian Gábor Hulmann in the Lada VFTS engaged in a battle for seconds, which he ultimately won with a 1.3-second lead over Italian Nicola Graziadei. The German duo of Andreas Rink and co-driver Stine Schmidt were running in third place in their Subaru Impreza GT, but were forced to retire after suffering a flat tire and problems with the front suspension. Fourth place went to the married couple Olaf and Heike Rachner (GER) in a Suzuki Swift Sport MK4.
Velenje, Slovenia, is situated in a landscape characterized by meadows and forests, with gentle rolling hills. The rally stages are entirely on asphalt. The special stages, totaling 123 kilometers in length, are very fast in places and run mostly on fairly narrow roads, so precise pace notes and accurate reading by the rally co-drivers play a decisive role in achieving the best times.
