Highlight in the Murtal

Rally cars glow over the Red Bull Ring

Günther Knobloch's 911 learns to fly again

(Bild: Knobloch/BMP Motorsportfotos )

From Friday, the Murtal will become the territory of the cross-country drivers. 68 cars will not only heat up the fans in Spielberg! Bureaucratic hurdles result in a modified stage schedule, which is nevertheless impressive.

Two weeks before the Formula 1 Grand Prix, the national rally championship makes a guest appearance in the Mur Valley. And it also makes a detour to the Red Bull Ring! On Friday, the 6.9-kilometer course (see graphic) will be run three times over access roads, the Driving Center and sections of the Service Road. Special highlight: a spectacular jump that was temporarily concreted for the rally guest appearance. 

(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

Around 40 percent of the route, including the jump, will be visible from the Red Bull Grandstand. This is the promise of the organizers, who had to turn half the rally around at the end of May. Due to last-minute bureaucratic hurdles: Potential nesting sites for the black-headed vulture, a possibly long-abandoned eagle's nest and creative noise measurement methods for the road-legal rally cars destroyed one special stage after another.

Defying the bureaucracy
"I've been organizing rallies for around 25 years, but I've never experienced anything like this. We had to re-plan everything in four days," said organizer Willi Stengg angrily at the time.

With the help of some mayors in the region, the first edition of the Murtal Rally was secured and new routes were added to the program at short notice. The result is impressive, despite a number of canceled highlights, such as the Judenburg "Innenstadtkriterium".

68 cars at the start
In addition to the three Ring stages, there will be two stages from Hammergraben to Seckau on Friday. On Saturday, there are four different stages - including a winding section from Baumkirchen to Gaberl and from Obdach to Sabathyhütte.

Fabian Zeiringer is at the start in the Fiesta

(Bild: Daniel Fessl - rallyepics.at)

A total of 13 special stages with a total length of 134 kilometers await the 68 participating teams, who will set up camp at the Fohnsdorf driving technology center run by organizer Peter Hopf. State champion Simon Wagner (Skoda Fabia RS Rally2) is the favorite going into the rally, with January rally winner Michi Lengauer a big absentee. He was unable to raise the necessary budget - an entry in a Rally2 car devours around 30,000 euros per round.

First time for everyone
Günther Knobloch (Porsche 911 RGT) and Fabian Zeiringer (Ford Fiesta Rally2) are once again flying the Styrian flag. The latter is confident: "The conditions at the Murtal Rally are good for me, because almost everyone goes into the rally without track knowledge and experience, so there is no experience disadvantage."

This is because the Murtal has not been raced in since 2011, when the Judenburg-Pölstal Rally was on the program for the last time to date.