Ten years ago, the ERC season was already up and running during the first week of January with the Jännerrallye in Austria hosting the opening round for the fourth year in a row.
Running from 4 - 6 January (Sunday to Tuesday to accommodate the regional bank holiday), the 2015 season opener was a wintry affair with heavy snow adding to the challenge.
Who won?
Kajetan Kajetanowicz followed 2014 winner and fellow Pole Robert Kubica by claiming victory in his Pirelli-equipped Ford Fiesta R5.
How?
Co-driven by Jarek Baran, Kajetanowicz recorded fastest time on all but the final stage of the event, which took place on the snow- and ice-coated asphalt roads of the Mühlviertel region of Upper Austria. Regardless of the level of grip, in snow blizzards or in sunshine, on daylight stages or at night, Kajetanowicz was unbeatable – increasing his lead at every opportunity to win by more than seven minutes.
What was said?
“It’s the best weekend ever, it’s fantastic, amazing and thank you to my whole team and my sponsors,” said Kajetanowicz, who collected 7000 Euros in prize money. “On the last stage I was just thinking about the finish. ‘I must finish this stage – I must finish this rally’, so it was really difficult. I like driving on snow, so this was good for us, but it wasn’t easy, because the grip was changing all the time – from ice to snow, then wet snow and Tarmac. But we did it and I don’t know how! I still can’t believe it, it’s amazing. It’s all much better than I thought before this rally.”
What else happened?
Robert Consani (above) finished an ERC career-high second after employing a clever tyre conservation strategy. The Frenchman, who collected 6000 Euros in prize money, used eight Pirelli tyres on his Peugeot 207 S2000 throughout the event, yet managed to set several impressive stage times.
Alexey Lukyanuk lost almost five minutes on the opening stage when he was forced to stop to let his Ford Fiesta R5’s overheating engine cool down. Having dropped to 23rd position, Lukyanuk set 15 second fastest stage times over the remaining 17 stages – and the fastest time on the 18th and final stage – and beat Jaromír Tarabus to third place, picking up the coveted Colin McRae ERC Flat Out Trophy in the process and a cheque for 5000 Euros.
It was an equally time-consuming start to the event for reigning Junior ERC champion Stéphane Lefebvre, who spun his Citroën DS3 R5 into a snowbank on SS1 and had to stop soon after to scoop the snow out of the radiator grille – losing more than three minutes in the process. He later lost more time after a brush with a snowbank on SS8.
Home favourite Hermann Neubauer was an excellent fourth after four stages, but the 26-year-old Austrian was forced to retire when his Ford Fiesta S2000 sprang an incurable oil leak on the next test. However, the biggest retirement of the opening day of the Jännerrallye was Craig Breen (above).
The Irish ace was two kilometres from the finish of SS1, Pierbach, when his Peugeot Rally Academy 208 T16 slid off the road on a slow downhill left-hand corner and became stranded. “It was a 10kph accident,” said Breen. “I got it slowed down and was halfway round the corner but as I got back on the power I lost grip and the front of the car spun round. There was no damage but it was stuck on the sumpguard and we couldn’t move.”
Vojtěch Štajf beat Dávid Botka to victory in the ERC2 category, while Sławomir Ogryzek headed Simone Tempestini (pictured below left during a pre-event promotional activity) in ERC3.
The 38th Jännerrallye has been taking place this weekend. Visit FIAERC.com soon to find out how some of the current ERC stars performed.
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