It was the no102 Lancia Delta Integrale 16V of ‘Lucky’ and Fabrizia Pons which held the top spot after posting the fastest time on all of the six special stages, finishing the day 1m25.2s ahead of their nearest rivals and well ahead of the second placed Category 4 competitor after championship leaders Mats Mysell and Esko Juntilla suffered a technical problem on the 4th stage of the day in the no101 Porsche 911 SC.

The no108 Audi Quattro of Italian crew ‘Zippo’ and Denis Piceno ended the day in 2nd overall and in the lead of the Category 3 battle over 2 minutes ahead of Austrian crew and reigning category 3 champions Karl Wagner and Gerda Zauner in the no103 Porsche 911.  

Karl Wagner had been flying, setting the second fastest time overall the second special stage of the six special stages but on stage 3 the Porsche lost over two minutes with an unknown problem, dropping the car down the order.  Whatever the problem was Wagner then posted the second fastest time over on the next three special stages to finish the day fourth overall but facing an uphill struggle to close the gap to the Audi on Day 2 tomorrow.

Anders and Ingrid Johnsen ended the day in third overall and at the head of the ultra competitive Category 2 battle.  The Swedes in the no105 Porsche 911 RSR finished the day 38 seconds ahead of championship leaders Paolo Pasutti and Giovanni Campeis in the no116 Porsche, the Italians in 5th overall.  The third placed car was the no110 Porsche of round 4 winners Carlo Mylle and Steven Vyncke, the Belgians in ninth overall.

The no131 Ford Escort Twin Cam of Ernie and Karen Graham was once again the car to beat in Category One and the British crew ended the day in 15th overall and over two minutes ahead of their nearest class rivals and 3.5 minutes ahead of championship leaders Antonio Parisi and Giuseppe D’Angelo in the no130 Porsche 911S.

Day 2 of the Rallye Weiz begins at 07h00 tomorrow morning with the first of eight special stages.

CLICK HERE for the result from Day 1 of Rallye Weiz, Round 5 of the FIA European Historic Sporting Rally Championship

Photo Courtesy of siehe Bildtext