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Austria
6th in Castrol Judenburg Pölstal Rally, 2nd OEM overall
The OMV compressed natural gas (CNG) rally team is off to a great start for the first outing of its Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX in Division I of Round 4 of the Austrian Rally season, this time at the Castrol Judenburg Pölstal rally. Only a week ago the OMV team announced it had abandoned the Subaru Impreza it had raced in the first three rounds, after experiencing apparently insurmountable turbo temperature problems. Manfred Stohl and Ilka Minor were delighted to drive the Evo into sixth place and maintain their second position overall on the OEM table with 43 points, 14 behind the leader. Stohl, who exclaimed the car “feels very good”, is quietly anticipating improved performance over the final three rounds, celebrating not just an achievement for OMV but also for natural gas vehicles.
Keen to build on their early season success with the Subaru, the choice of replacement vehicle was not straightforward, as the Mitsubishi Evo is not normally a Division I contender. The solution, brought about by OMV’s technical engineer, meant changing the car to operate with only one injection valve per cylinder and to use a 32-mm air restrictor, to enable the Mitsubishi to comply with Division I technical rules.
OMV’s Head of Communications, Roland Wolk, told NGV Global the 6th place, actually 4th because two drivers placements were excluded from the results, was remarkable because work on OMV’s Mitsubishi commenced just 10 days before the rally, and driver Stohl did not have the opportunity to test the car until the day of the rally. Technical approval arrived on Thursday, the rally commenced on Friday, and adjustments and improvements were carried out during the first special stages, Wolk added.
The next event in the Austrian championship is the Maribor Rally on 3-4 July.
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