Slovenian Champion Andrej Jereb (Subaru) lies in second place, exactly 3:29,2 minutes behind Stohl. Due to the retirement of Slovakian Tibor Csherhalmi, last year’s winner, caused by a technical defect of his Mitsubishi, Austrians Walter Kovar and Mario Saibel moved up to 6^th, respectively 8^th place.

Standings in the EC-ranking after day one, after 8 of 17 special stages:

Pos	Driver/ Co-driver	Nat	Car	Time
1.	Manfred Stohl/Ilka Minor	AUT/AUT	Mitsubishi	1:17,30,4
2.	Andrej Jereb/Miran Kacin	SLO	Subaru	03:29,2
3.	Mihaly Hodula/Mark Varhidi	HUN	Mitsubishi	03:37,3
4.	Öcsi Balasz/György Pelyhe	HUN	Mitsubishi	03:47,4
5.	Jasen Popov/Dilian Popov	BG	Mitsubishi	03:49,4
6.	Walter Kovar/Nina Irina Wassnig	AUT/AUT	Mitsubishi	05:10,2
7.	Michal Riecica/Jaroslav Novak	SK/CZ	Subaru	05:10,5
8.	Mario Saibel Mario Süss	AUT/AUT	Mitsubishi	05:26,4
9.	Vojtech Staif/Petr Rihak	CZ	Subaru	07:55,5
10.	Elemer Kiss/Tibor Rethey	HUN	Mitsubishi	10:30,1

Raimund Baumschlager in the lead in Austrian Championship ranking after 1^st day

The man from Rosenau leads with more than 1 minute on Czech Stepan Vojtech

Hermann Gassner already group N champion, Michael Böhm winner of Diesel Cup

It was an exciting duel for the lead between Raimund Baumschlager, prematurely champion already, and Czech OMV-WRC driver Stepan Vojtech. In the beginning of the day they were equally fast, then only tenths of seconds apart. But a problem with the brakes cost Vojtech one minute. At this point Toto Wolf, Krisztian Hideg and the surprisingly fast Franz Wittmann junior overtook the Czech. But Vojtech did strike back and could rejoice in second intermediate place at the end of the second day. Raimund Baumschlager had to face several critical moments despite his half time lead: „I’m obviously happy about the lead but we had to change the differential once in the service zone, which my mechanics managed to do within the allocated time frame. I can only be grateful for that and congratulate them.“ Despite brake problems, Toto Wolff lies in overall third place in group A, in front of local hero Johann Holzmüller and Hungarian Krisztian Hideg. Franz Wittmann junior, who had given a splendid performance until then, had to retire on SS 8 after an accident.

Thanks to today’s top place in group N, German Hermann Gassner has already secured the title of Austrian Champion, due to the full Austrian Championship point-scoring at the OMV Rally Waldviertel. In second and third place are Kris Rosenberger, who has regained his strength, and Christian Lippitsch. Ernst Haneder and Martin Zellhofer were not able to grab their small title chance, especially since Zellhofer had to retire at his last rally due to technical problems.

Events in the Diesel Cup took a rather dramatic turn. In the beginning, Hannes Danzinger gave a faultless performance but then encountered problems with the axle, which had to be exchanged. The repair took 16 minutes, one minute over the allocated time. Therefore Danzinger was taken out of the ranking and Michael Böhm took the lead. This fact eventually led to the premature title decision in the Diesel Cup in favour of Styrian Böhm: „I still can’t believe that I’ve actually won the Cup this year. It’s the biggest success in my career in motor sports – I’m unbelievably happy.“

Standings after day one (8 of 17 special stages):

Pos	Driver/ Co-driver	Nat	Car	Group	Time
1.	Raimund Baumschlager/Th. Zeltner	AUT	Mitsubishi		17:50,3
2.	Stepan Vojtech/Michal Ernst	CZ	Peugeot 206WRC		01:20,3
3.	Toto Wolf/Gerald Pöschl	AUT	Toyota WRC		01:41,5
4.	Hermann Gassner/Karin Thannhäuser	D	Mitsubishi	1. Grp N	02:38,4
5.	Johann Holzmüller/Peter Müller	AUT	Mitsubishi		02:47,4
6.	Krisztian Hideg/Krisztian Szabo	HUN	Mitsubishi		03:12,2
7.	Kris Rosenberger/Sigi Schwarz	AUT	Subaru	2. Grp N	03:32,6
8.	Christian Lippitsch/Jürgen Klinger	AUT	Mitsubishi	3. Grp N	03:39,4
9.	Andreas Waldherr/Richard Jeitler	AUT	VW Golf KitCar		05:04,2
10.	Ernst Haneder/Daniela Weissengruber	AUT	Mitsubishi	4. Grp N	05:38,7
11.	Michael Brandner/Catherina Schmidt	AUT	Mitsubishi	5. Grp N	08:13,8
12.	Michael Böhm/Günther Schmierl	AUT	Fiat Stilo	1. Diesel	10:50,6

Standings in the Austrian Championship prior to the last leg tomorrow on Saturday:

Group A: 1. Baumschlager 94 Bruttopunkte (86 net), 2. Achim Mörtl 68 (68), 3. Krisztian Hideg 68 (62), 4. Andreas Waldherr 60 (51), 5. David Doppelreiter 39 (39), 6. Johann Holzmüller 36 (36)

Group N: 1. Hermann Gassner 82 (82), 2. Ernst Haneder 68 (63), 3. Martin Zellhofer 53 (53), 4. Willi Stengg 47 (47), 5. Christian Lippitsch 33 (33)

Diesel Cup: 1. Michael Böhm 92 (84), 2. Hannes Danzinger 72 (72)

Timetable for Saturday, 29^th of October 2005

08,05              Start of 2^nd leg in Horn

08,48              SS 9 Horn - Nordring                                              12,7 km

09,31              SS 10 Pölla                                                              06,9 km

10,14              SS 11 Rastenfeld – Krumau                                  13,9 km

10,42              SS 12 Jaidhof – Gars – St. Leonhard                  23,0 km

12,30              SS 13 Horn – Nordring                                           12,7 km

13,13              SS 14 Pölla                                                              06,9 km

14,01              SS 15 Rastenfeld – Krumau                                  13,9 km

14,29              SS 16 Jaidhof – Gars – St. Leonhard                  23,0 km

16,12              SS 17 Horn – Nordring                                           12,7 km

17,13              Finish of the OMV Rally Waldviertel in Horn

25^th Int. OMV Rally Waldviertel, press service

Armin Holenia, Tel. +43 664 201 27 00

Horn, 28^th of October 2005