ROUND 6 OF THE AUSTRIAN RALLYE CHAMPIONSHIP: THREE NEW CHAMPIONS CROWNED AT RALLYE WEIZ!

Very impressive debut for the “Rally Weiz” in the Austrian Rally Championship, which is situated in the district of that name in the southeast of the country. Proper organisation and very demanding asphalt-stages, some of them mixed with gravel- roads in typical Austrian fashion, found praise by all 67 competitors from four nations.

52 years old Raimund Baumschlager (Škoda Fabia S2000) needed only a 4th place in one of the three final championship-rounds to clinch his 11 th title after last years champion Beppo Harrach crashed his Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX R4 already in the very first of 12 SS (covering 155,14 km) into a tree. Baumschlager did it in style and easily won his fifth rally this season. Second place went to former production-car- world-champion Manfred Stohl in the crude-natural-gas powered Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX, ahead of Mario Saibel (Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X R4), who had a very fine second leg after a troubled first one. The 2WD-championship remains open. Former Austrian -champion Martin Zellhofer, organiser of the national Suzuki-Cup, won the category despite fuel-pump-hickups during leg 2 in his Swift S1600, ahead of defending 2WD-champion Hannes Danzinger (VW Scirocco TDI). Fastest man on day 2 was Michael Boehm in the second Suzuki S1600. Despite losing 3 1/2 minutes on Friday due to a puncture, he still managed to finish 3rd and keep his title- chance alive. Italians Carlo Fornasiero/Oriella Tobaldo (Renault Clio S1600) were 4th, only 1.4 seconds behind Boehm. They also retained their 4th place in the Austrian Rally Chamionship.

In both historic categories the champions were crowned prematurely. Unfortunately both championships are poorly supported by the competitors after a blossoming time two, three years ago, because many drivers are deeply unhappy about how the Austrian ASN is handling historic . Karl Wagner in a Porsche Carrera RS easily won the championship for cars up to period I and remains unbeaten nationally for the years 2011/12. National champion 1994, Kurt Goettlicher, also easily defended his 2011-title for the period J-cars in the same Ford Sierra RS Cosworth he already used in the late 80s and early 90s. The “Alpe-Adria-Cup” was comparably poorly supported too. None of top-three teams was present and none of the three Austrian teams starring in the entry-list of the cup either. The results-list was topped by Italians Marco Crozzoli/Luciano Zamparutti (Opel Astra GSI 16V), who also took over the lead in the cup. They just pipped Sergio Graffi/Michele Ceretti (Opel Corsa B GSI 16V) by 32.8 seconds. Lino Acco/Emanuela Florean (Renault Clio Maxi) finished 3rd, ahead of Andrea Mattieligh/Paolo Calabretta (Renault Twingo R2B), who had a costly off early in leg 2. Angelo Martinis/Andrea Valentinis (Citroen Saxo VTS) crashed in SS 8. Final results after 12 of 12 Special Stages:

1. Raimund Baumschlager/Klaus Wicha, Škoda Fabia S2000, 1.32:00,0 Hrs. 2. Manfred Stohl/, Mitsubishi Evo IX CNG, + 1:29,4 Min. 3. Mario Saibel/Ursula Mayrhofer, Mitsubishi Evo X R4, + 1:42,7 4. Gerwald Grössing/Sigi Schwarz, Mitsubishi Evo IX, + 2:00,6 5. Hermann Neubauer/Bernhard Ettel, STI R4, + 2:25.9 6. Gunthard Puchleitner/Arno Puchleitner, Mitsubishi Evo IX, + 4:50,6 7. Martin Zellhofer/Andrè Kachel, Suzuki Swift S1600, + 5:11,7 8. Hannes Danzinger/Kathi Wüstenhagen, VW Scirocco TDI, + 5:29,9 9. Jörg Rigger/Fred Winklhofer, Mitsubishi Evo X, + 7:27,0 10. Michael Böhm/Kathrin Becker, Suzuki Swift S1600, + 9:18,8

Full results available at www.rally-weiz.at!

Detailed standings of the Alpe-Adria-Cup are available at www.kaernten-rallye.at!

Manfred Wolf - Werner Schneider Rally Weiz Press Office 0664-1929939 - 0676-9331315