EHRC – Extra-special Érdi Jr takes his fast Ford to Rallye Weiz glory
Tibor Érdi Jr has made it back-to-back Rallye Weiz victories to become the first driver to win twice in this season’s FIA European Rally Historic Rally Championship.
After claiming victory on last month’s Mecsek Rallye in his native Hungary, Érdi Jr was at it again in Austria with the result making his second win in as many years on the Tarmac event.
He did so by claiming 11 stage wins alongside co-driver Istvan Kerék for a winning margin of 59.7s behind the wheel of his Category 4 Ford Sierra Cosworth 4×4.
Italian Audi Quattro driver “Zippo” (below), co-driven by Nicola Arena, secured the Category 3 honours in second to maintain his lead at the top of the provisional overall FIA EHRC standings.
Ernie Graham, with daughter Anna co-driving his BMW M3, completed the podium following a close battle with Maciej Lubiak.
Polish Porsche driver Lubiak held third until an off-road moment on SS11 dropped him to fourth. He started the event-deciding SS13 5.8s behind Graham – who was delayed by an overshoot on SS9 – but crashed out, leaving Briton Graham to celebrate third place.
Johann-Georg Lindner finished as the top Austrian in seventh overall and also won Category 2 driving a Ford Escort RS 1600.
After changing the faulty clutch arm that forced him to retire from leg one, James Potter overcame a deficit of almost nine minutes to win Category 1 and secure the provisional FIA EHRC category title for himself and co-driver Tim Sayer.
Piotr Gadomski (Toyota Corolla AE82) claimed the FIA EHRC Front Wheel Drive Trophy victory for the third event running as László Mekler (pictured below) banked the FIA EHRC 1600cc Trophy win aboard his Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint 1600 GTA, despite a spin on SS7.
How the race for FIA EHRC glory unfolded in Austria
Leading by 12.3s at the completion of Friday’s opening leg, which was shortened on safety grounds due to torrential rain and strong winds leading to trees falling on part of the route and damaging the structures of several teams located in the service park, Tibor Érdi Jr hit the ground running on leg two.
While several rivals opted for wet weather tyres in anticipation of slippery conditions following overnight rain, Érdi Jr selected dry weather covers for the opening loop of two stages. Although there were damp sections in places, the undulating countryside roads were largely dry, which allowed Érdi Jr to build an advantage of 48.5s.
Érdi Jr also made the right tyre call for stages 10 and 11. Despite threats of rain, the weather remained dry and the Hungarian’s choice of dry tyres kept him out front, although “Zippo”’s fastest run through SS11 ended his run of unbroken stage wins. “Zippo” was also fastest on SS13, but it was Érdi Jr who was fastest of all.
“We’re really happy,” Érdi Jr said. “Before the rally we really wanted to win so thank you to the team for the good car. We had one problem [with the driveshaft on leg one] but the rally was actually quite easy, we made some good decisions with the tyres, that was the big difference for the time this morning but that’s my job. The brakes got a bit hot [in the afternoon] but we didn’t need to push in the end because we had a big lead.”
“Zippo” added: “We lose a lot of time [choosing wet tyres when it was dry] and we quickly think only to finish the race. The car was not as we want but the turbo was a little better today. I am almost happy because we take good points for the championship but Érdi was very fast in this race.”
Graham (pictured below) said: “That was pretty close. I was really keen to get on the podium, particularly after missing out last year by 0.7s. Lubiak unfortunately slid off but there you are. We got the tyre choice more or less right, and we were able to be there when it mattered.”
Vojtěch Štajf was hampered by a handful of mechanical issues and an incorrect tyre choice for the penultimate loop of stages but battled through to finish fourth in his Toyota Celica GT-Four.
Guy Trolliet drove his Porsche 911 to fifth place followed by Pascal Eouzan (BMW M3). Behind Johann-Georg Lindner (pictured below), Georg Reitsperger finished eighth after clutch issues and a small off. On his first rally in 14 years, Massimo Guerra took ninth as Éric Guignard (Renault 5 Turbo) completed the top 10.
Jean-Marc Bussolini’s Porsche 911 RS sported bodywork damage following a brush with a chicane. He finished 14th with Siegfried Mayr 15th after his Volvo 244 lost powersteering five kilometres from the start of SS6.
János Dunavölgyi came home 19th overall and second in FWD despite his Lada Samara getting stuck in third gear on SS10.
Natale Mirabile, who towed his Fiat Ritmo Abarth 130 TC 2000 kilometres from his home in Sicily, finished 20th after an oil leak on SS3.
Dorin Alexandrescu (Volkswagen Golf) retired on Saturday afternoon with clutch issues, while a technical failure prevented Harold Bunting from completing the final stage in his Austin Cooper S. An electrical glitch meant an early exit for Hervé Guignard (Renault Alpine A310).
Stanislav Budil (BMW 2002 TI) went off the road on SS7, Péter Magoss crashed out on SS8, while Allan Ring stopped on the same stage with damage to his BMW M3’s steering.
Despite his mechanics working until 02:00, Christophe Jacob retired his Ford Escort RS prior to SS6 due to a crankshaft fault.
Follow this link for all the Rallye Weiz results: https://www.rallye-weiz.at/2024/results.html
The FIA EHRC switches to gravel when it heads to Finland for Lahti Historic Rally, round six of the season from August 22-24.