Austria, Vienna
Last minute conversion for Subaru no hindrance
Fourth place in the overall standings in Austria’s first rally event of the year underlines the successful test deployment of the Stohl OMV racing team’s new Subaru Impreza MY07, powered by compressed natural gas (CNG). At the premiere of the Jänner-Rallye Division I (N4 class of vehicles, and A5-A7) event, held in the Freistadt region of Austria, the OMV CNG Rally Team not only achieved fourth place overall, but on the second day had the best overall time in a special stage. Having raced CNG Mitsubishi Evo Lancers for the past two years, OMV switched to the Subaru just before the season commenced to allow the team to compete in the Division 1 Austrian Rally Championship (which requires single injection valves). Driver Manfred Stohl (Rally World Champion of Group N in 2000) modestly commented his result perhaps had more to do with the snow and icy conditions than with vehicle performance; nevertheless the results were a pleasant surprise. Lessons learned in January’s event are expected to contribute to improved performance at the Lavanttal Rally at the end of March
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