Austria’s 2025 rally season kicked off with the Jännerrallye, featuring the cream of Europe’s rally crews. Everyone chased Michael Lengauer/Erik Furst (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) over the event’s nineteen special stages, with last year’s Austrian Rally Champion Simon Wagner/Hanna Ostlender (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) the only crew able to stick close by.
Held in the north of Austria around the town of Freistadt, an estimated 100,000 spectators braved the cold, snowy conditions to cheer on their favourite drivers on 2025’s first classic winter rally.
Lengauer won nine of the event’s nineteen stages. He shared after the event: “I’m really super happy, but I also have to say thank you; there were so many fans on the track this weekend who cheered us on. I don’t think so many fireworks were fired on New Year’s Eve, as I saw here. Just before the finish, I had a moment of shock: I went a little off the line and briefly slid out of the race. But in the end, everything went well.”
In his competitive debut in a Hyundai i20 N Rally2, Wagner was close to Lengauer but not fast enough to launch an attack. “I’m not disappointed about second place or that I couldn’t win here again,” he said. “Lengauer drove a huge rally and deserved the win. He had a great package and used it well. What counts for me is that I saw that I can be at the front even with a car that is completely new to me. If we can work out the necessary details, I’m optimistic about the future.”
Rounding out the podium was Czech rally ace Jan Cerny and co-driver Ondre Krajca in their Citroën C3 Rally2, who finished 1m 20.9s adrift of the winners. He was hustled for much of the event by Luca Waldherr/Claudia Maier (Citroën C3 Rally2), but water pump problems struck them on the final loop of stages that forced their retirement.
Fourth place went to another Czech pairing, Filip Mares/Radovan Bucha (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2), after an intense fight with Hermann Neubauer/Bernard Ettel (Ford Fiesta Rally2). According to reports, Neubauer cracked three windscreens and struggled in subzero temperatures during some stages. In fact, they set the fastest stage time in SS14 – with no windscreen – which their team boss, Max Zellhofer, said was probably down to being “so cold under their helmets that they wanted to get to the finish line particularly quickly.”
In the ORM 2 classification, German Hermann Gassner Jr took the spoils in his Renault Clio R3 ahead of Martin Rossgatterer (Ford Fiesta Rally3) and Christoph Zellhofer (Suzuki Swift ZMX).
Marcel Neulinger (Opel Corsa Rally4) was victorious in the ORM 3 battle, with the Peugeot 208 Rally4s of Alexander Kaar and Thomas Traussnig chasing him to the finish. Neulinger also topped the Junior classification.
Overall Jännerrallye Results:
01: M. Lengauer/E. Furst (Škoda Fabia RS Rally2) – 2h 12m 32.1s
02: S. Wagner/H. Ostlender (Hyundai i20 N Rally2) + 28.3s
03: J. Cerny/O. Krajca (Citroën C3 Rally2) + 1m 20.9s
04: F. Mares/R. Bucha (Toyota GR Yaris Rally2) + 2m 44.2s
05: H. Neubauer/B. Ettel (Ford Fiesta Rally2) + 2m 49.6s
06: H. Gassner Jr/M. Wenzel (Renault Clio Rally3) + 6m 06.8s
07: M. Rossgatterer/A. Thauerbock (Ford Fiesta Rally3) + 8m 06.8s
08: K. Rosenberger/S. Schwarz (Volkswagen Polo GTI R5) + 8m 51.0s
09: C. Zellhofer/A. Kacher (Suzuki Swift ZMX) + 9m 29.1s
10: E. Haneder/A. Ahorner (Toyota GR Yaris) + 10m 08.5s
Austrian Rally Championship Standings after Round 1:
ORM: 01: Michael Lengauer 33 points; 02: Simon Wagner 28; 03: Jan Cerny 22.
ORM 2: 01: Hermann Gassner 35 points; 02: Martin Rossgatterer 28; 03: Christoph Zellhofer 23.
ORM 3: 01: Marcel Neulinger 35 points; 02: Alexander Kaar 24; 03: Thomas Traussnig 23.
ORM Junior: 01: Marcel Neulinger 35 point; 02 Thomas Traussnig 28; 03: Nico Neulinger 24.
The next ORM (Austrian Rally Championship) event is the Rebenland Rally in Leutschach on 28-29 March 2025.