The Polish top favorit captured the win in the very last Special Trial of the January Rally / Vaclav Pech, Raimund Baumschlager on the pedestal / Harrach wins the ERC-Production Cup, Böhm the ERC-2WD Classification

Also this year, the 31st January Rally formed the start of the European rally season. Freistadt in the northern "Mühlviertel" was again the location for start and finish.This rally classic forms the start of the ERC (FIA European Rally Championship), where, in a proven manner and like last year, Eursport signed up as the responsible sponsor. In addition, the January Rally counted towards the start of the Czech Rally Championship and was also counted as the first run of the domestic State Championship. It was most pleasing that many international top teams found their way to the Province of Upper Austria.

Accordingly, the spectators showed great interest. . After a small decline due to the weather last year, this year the number of spectators increased to approximately 140.000 fans, who, on account of the perfomances presented to them, had no reason to be sorry.

The 78 teams from 11 nations who had started encountered , especially at the beginning of the rally, extremely difficult road conditions during the total of 18 Special Trials. The individual sections were more like an ice skating rink and relsulted in numerous instances of running off the road, though without any serious consequences. There were distinct improvements regarding the condtions on the second day, with dry surfaces at first and rain at the end encountered by the drivers.

Organizing Committee Chief Ferdinand Staber, after the 31st edition of the January Rally, again had good reason to take positive stock for the organizing club RC Mühlviertel : " Next to the value for the sport ,it is ensured through the participation of Eurosport TV that a substantial advertising value is achieved, which means an immense dimension for the region in a touristic sense. In this instance, I would like to thank also the sponsors and supporters of the rally, represented here by but not only , the Sportland Oberösterreich, the Doka Group, the Raiffeisen-Landesbank,

the Wirtschaftskammer (WKO), and Freistädter Bier. Naturally , my thanks are also extended to all the other sponsors. Next to thanks to the fans, special gratitude goes to the Rallyeclub Mühlviertel. All helpers and functionaries - represented here by Uwe M.Schmidt, Walter Lumetzberger and Peter Schöller, also deserve a thank you, as well as the representatives of the Public Authority, Police, Fire Fighters, and Ambulance Service. They all showed their greatest committment."

The sporty course of events:
The January Rally 2014 was shaped by the intense fight for the win, which lasted until the last of the 18 highly demanding Special Trials. From the very beginning, a quartet of potential winners became evident , consisting of the two Poles Robert Kubica and Kajetan Kajetanowicz and Austria's Champion Raimund Baumschlager and Czech Champion Vaclav Pech. It was rather surprising that the first to "bid farewell " out of these four was Kajetanowicz, since the Pole had won three Special Trials before his retirement in ST 4. The remaining trio fought an even match for the lead at half time until the end of the first day. The front runner changed almost continuously. Not least due to a great finish with three successive ST-wins , Robert Kubica grabbed the first leg from Czech Pech. Raimund Baumschlager was behind by 20 seconds, though 10 seconds had resulted from a penalty due to an aborted early start. In addition, the Upper Austrian was slowed down by an electronic defect and did not seem to have the tires which provided "bigger wings" to the leading duo.

This situation continued on the second day of the rally. Robert Kubica and Vaclav Pech pulled away ahead. Raimund Baumschlager decided for the safe variant and brougth his Skoda very carefully over the finish line and onto the pedestal. A war for seconds raged at the top, in which Kubica delivered a throwback to himself. At ST 12, the top star's foot on the gas pedal was faster than his Ford Fiesta PRC - early start and 10 seconds penalty time ! Vaclav Pech in the Mini Cooper S2000, however, was unable to make use of this would-be present. Quite the opposite:In the very last Special Trial (Aistal), he himself gave one away. The January Rally triple winner opted for slicks in the rain; Kubica fittted snow tires and beat the Czech by unbelievable 31 seconds in the 25-km Trial and went on to win the January Rally with a 19 seconds advantage over the out-of-luck Pech.

Robert Kubica:
"It's simply great to win here in Freistadt at my first start. The rally - extremely difficult. Continuously changing conditions have really demanded everything from me. Our team was here to test for the Word Championship in Monte Carlo. This was an out-and-out good test. The contest with Vaclav was unbelievable close."

Vaclav Pech: " It was a difficult rally. Lots of ice in the beginning and I couldn't drive very fast; after that I was alway at the limit in order to keep Robert and also Raimund at a distance. It's my own fault that it was not enough in the end for my fourth win here. I gambled with the tires and unfortunately I lost."

Raimund Baumschlager: All in all , for me it was a satisfactory rally for me. I have shown that I can keep up with the absolute top. Unfortunately, a small electronic defect has slipped in which in turn set us back. As such I'm happy with my third place, just like last year."

Behind the trio on the pedestal, specifically Beppo Harrach put himself onto the scene. The 2011 Austrian State Champion , thanks to a strong performance, reached a remarkable fourth place and , with his Mitsubishi Evo IX R4, left behind six S2000 cars and even the Czech Roman Odlozilik's Ford Fiesta R5. On top of that, the Lower Austrian also won the ERC-Production Cup Classification. Harrach: " This was a rally with many ups and downs. I would have liked to drive onto the pedestal ; this goal we barely missed. But we can justifiably be proud of the win in the Production Cup."

Andreas Aigner wasn't quite as satisfied with his January Rally performance in the Peugeot 207 S2000. The former World and current European Champion admitted:" I expected more with this car. Unfortunately, we had many small problems, and a number of times we went off the road, which cost us a lot of time. On top of that, we had to change the gearbox before the last Special Trial. As such, I should actually be glad about place six."

Hermann Neubauer from Salzburg, as the tenth, also advanced himself into the top ten. But like Aigner, he was also a little disappointed." I had hoped that we could carry some weight in the fight for a win in the Production Cup. But a series of problems prevented this. Although the second place in this competition looks good, eight minutes distance to first place is a little too much for me. "

The race for the best driver from the "Mühlviertel" this year was won by Ernst Haneder. The baker from St.Oswald near Freistadt came in as a good eleventh overall. " This time, it was my twelfth start at the January Rally, but this year's event was probably the most difficult. My Subaru didn't like all the rain at the end. And I didn't either." David Glachs, in a VW Polo S2000 owned by Dr. Helmuth Czekal, had a rather unfortunate appearance in this category. The car, just like its owner, took part in a rally for the last time. Czekal: "I'v been with this activity for fourty years. Now its the end, irrrevocably. I'll go into rally retirement , and the car will go into my private collection. "

Glachs could not bring the VW Polo across the finishing line. Already in ST 1, leaving the pavement meant the beginning of the end. Retirement from the classification followed because of exceeding the time limit due to an accident. A second starting attempt on Sunday ended with another case of running off the pavement in ST 15.

The win in the ERC 2WD - Classification went to Austria's Champion Michael Böhm. The Suzuki driver was not without problems, but all in all, he was under way quite safely." Problems with the alternator and the clutch caused me quite a bit of sweat, but my mechanic soon had everything under control. "

In the ERC Ladies Cup, Czech Martina Danhelova (Renault Clio) prevailed over Ekaterina Stratieva (Citroen C2R2) from Bulgaria.

31st International January Rally 2014, final results after 18 Special Trials:

1. Robert Kubica/Marcin Szczepaniak Pol/Pol Ford Fiesta RRC 2:26:32,4 Std
2. Vaclav Pech/Petr Uhel Cz/Cz Mini Cooper S2000 +19,9 Sek
3. Raimund Baumschlager/Klaus Wicha A/Ger Skoda Fabia S2000 +1:38,9 Min
4. Beppo Harrach/Leopold Welsersheimb A/A Mitsubishi Evo IX R4 +3:00,3 Min
5. Jaromir Tarabus/Daniel Trunkat Cz/Cz Skoda Fabia S2000 +3:39,6 Min
6. Andreas Aigner/Barbara Watzl A/A Peugeot 207 S2000 +4:33,4 Min
7. Vasily Grayzin/Dmity Chumak Lat/Lat Ford Fiesta S2000 +6:27,4 Min
8. Roman Odlozilik/Martin Turecek Cz/Cz Ford Fiesta R5 +7:16,3 Min
9. Robert Consani/Vincent Landais Fra/Fra Peugeot 207 S2000 +9:22,2 Min
10. Hermann Neubauer/Bernhard Ettel A/A Subaru Impreza R4 +11:39,6 Min

Special Trials - best times : Robert Kubica 8 (3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 14, 17, 18), Vaclav Pech 6 (7, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16), Kajetan Kajetanowicz 3 (1, 2, 5). Raimund Baumschlager 1 (4)

Most important forced retirements: Kajetan Kajetanowicz (accident/ST 6), Jan Cerny (technical defect/ST 8), Martin Fischerlehner (off the road/ST1), David Glachs (oof the road/ST 1 + exceeding time limit), Zoltan Bessenyey (technical defect/ST 4)