Reigning Category 3 Champions Karl Wagner and Gerda Zauner finished the first day of the 29th Historic Vltava Rallye (Friday) with 17 second lead at the head of the overall leader board in the no3 Porsche 911 SC.  

The Austrians posted the fastest time on the first three stages of the day, while the 4th and 5th went to the no1 Audi quattro of ‘Zippo’ and Denis Piceno, the Italians finishing the day second overall.

Third overall, and the Category 2 leaders, were Anders and Ingrid Johnsen in the no9 Porsche 911 RS, 54.7 seconds behind the lead Porsche and 22 seconds ahead of the no2 Ford Sierra Cosworth of Daniel Alonso and Candido Carrera, which was the fastest Category 4 competitor.

The no10 Opel Kadett Coupe of Miroslav Janota and Petr Novak were 5th fastest and second in Category 2, 28 seconds behind Johnsen’s Porsche and 1.6 seconds ahead of the no5 Opel Manta 400 of Juergen Geist and Ramona Kees, the second placed Category 4 car.

The no17 Porsche 911 S of Category 1 champions Antonio Parisi and Giuseppe D’Angelo finished the day in 18th overall.

There were several retirements on the opening day. The no19 Ford Escort of James Potter and Geoff Jones retired before SS1 while their Flexifly teammates Ernie and Karen Graham had an engine issue on SS1, which meant they missed the rest of the day.  However, the team are working on the engine overnight and the British duo expect to be back out for Day 2.

The no23 Volvo 244 of Siegfried and Renate Mayr also retired with an engine issue on SS2, while the no16 Lada of Lubos Dolak and Jiri Kulhan had an accident on SS3.

Day 2 of the 29th Historic Vltava Rallye will feature 7 special stages, with SS6 getting underway at 08h37 Saturday morning.