In the 31st International January Rally in Freistadt, the star driver from Poland is ahead after the first day, but with Vaclav Pech and Raimund Baumschlager, two fierce competitors are keen for a win tomorrow, Sunday.

A highly dramatic triple header for the win dominates the 31st International January Rally which started today and will end tomorrow, Sunday, with another eight special trials. After the frirst day and so far ten completed trials , Robert Kubica is ahead. The Polish WRC2-World Champion leads the five times Czech Champion Vaclav Pech by 6,3 seconds and the eleven times Austrian State Champion Raimund Baumschlager by 20,9 seconds, whose time, however, includes 10 penalty seconds on account of an aborted start.

Kubica laid the cornerstone for his lead with a fantastic trial from Schönau to St. Leonhard (22,8 km), where he could best Vaclav Pech - in the lead up till now - by 8,3 seconds. Alll three canditates for a win and for whom everything is possible tomorrow, Sunday - are satisfied. Robert Kubica, committed this year to the British M-Sport-Team in a Ford: "This is an unbelievable difficult rally. Icy, slippery, muddy, the whole works. I'm glad to be here. This is a worthy test for myself and my team for the forthcoming World Championship Rally in Monte Carlo." Vaclav Pech: " I can't complain, I had a poor start and improved in the course of the race. I'm always thrilled anew by the atmosphere at the January Rally." Raimund Baumschlager is also in a good mood: " For a while, we even led the field. I had gambled with the tires, and it worked out. Then, unfortunately, an electronic defect slowed us down. We have to be glad we made it into the Service, otherwise the rally would be over for us by now. So, tomorrow, everything is still possible." Kajetan Kajetanowicz is not part of the game any more.The Polish Champion, also considered a potential winner, had to give up after leaving the pavement during Special Trial 6.

Andreas Aigner is not quite happy. The Styrian in a Peugeot 207 S2000 was out of luck, but is still positioned at a reasonably good 6th place overall: " A few slip-ups and a spin at the beginning, after that , tire damage - I hope the streak of bad luck is over. The latest times in the day actually were OK and make me feel confident for Sunday."

Immediately in front of Aigner, Beppo Harrach is in a good fifth place and as such is the leader in the ERC Production Cup classification. He is not quite happy, however. " We didn't have time to sufficiently test the new tires mandated by FIA. At the moment, it is more like the tires driving us instead of us driving them. Nevertheless, we would like to win the Cup classification." The Production Cup in Freistadt is anyway a red-white-red matter. After Harrach, Hermann Neubauer is in second place and Ernst Haneder in third. Hermann
Neubauer looks back at a good day: " Once, we made a mistake with the tires. Otherwise, everything was OK."

In competing for the title of the best driver from the "Mühlviertel", Ernst Haneder, Johannes Keferböck and Mario Klepatsch gave a thrilling performance. Haneder is in second place overall: " I'm totally happy. But the rally lasts longer." Keferböck is 13th and for the first time drives a Peugeot 207 S2000.: I parctically had no time to test and I'm still learning here with each kilometer."Klepatsch, 14th at the moment and last year's best driver from the "Mühlviertel": " It's really a great fight with Ernst and Johannes. To me, this is most important. Who is ahead at the end is secondary."

In the ERC-2WD Classification, Michael Böhm has it all in his own hands. After European Champion Zoltan Bessenyey from Hungary had to park his Honday Civic with a technical problem, the Austrian State Champion has to find " a right mix of caution and risk in order to bring our Suzuki over the finishing line."

The January Rally will be continued tomorrow, Sunday, with eight Trials. The start of the Special Trial 11 Gutau is at 7.43 A:M.

January Rally 2014, intermediate results after the first day ( 10 out of 18 special trials):

1. Robert Kubica/Marcin Szczepaniak Pol/Pol Ford Fiesta S2000 1:24:52,6 Std
2. Vaclav Pech/Petr Uhel Cz/Cz Mini Cooper S2000 +6,4 Sek
3. Raimund Baumschlager/Klaus Wicha A/G Skoda Fabia S2000 +20,9 Sek
4. Jaromir Tarabus/Daniel Trunkat Cz/Cz Skoda Fabia S2000 +1:47,9 Min
5. Beppo Harrach/Leopold Welsersheimb A/A Mitsubishi Evo IX R4 +1:59,1 Min
6. Andreas Aigner/Barbara Watzl A/A Peugeot 207 S2000 +2:41,3 Min
7. Vasily Grayzin/Dmity Chumak Lat/Lat Ford Fiesta S2000 +3:00,6 Min
8. Roman Odlozilik/Martin Turecek Cz/Cz Ford Fiesta R5 +4:03,6 Min
9. Hermann Neubauer/Bernhard Ettl A/A Subaru Impreza R4 +5:12,0 Min
10. Robert Consani/Vincent Landais Fra/Fra Peugeot 207 S2000 +5:16,1 Min