14th championship title and world record for Raimund Baumschlager

The Austrian rally veteran Raimund Baumschlager captured one more championship title in the Austrian Rally Championship by winning the Rally Waldviertel, the last round of the championship.

For the 57-year old driver of Volkswagen Polo R WRC it’s the 14th title in the national championship. In doing so, Baumschlager set a new world record: no driver in the world has ever won 14 national champion titles!

Raimund Baumschlager celebrates his 14th championship title

He did it in the most exciting way, by securing a victory at Rally Waldviertel in the last special stage, together with co-driver Pirmin Winklhofer. Baumschlager entered the last stage as the second-placed driver, behind Herrmann Neubauer in a Ford Fiesta RS WRC. Such a standing will give the championship title to Neubauer but Baumschlager was 6.2 seconds faster than Neubauer on the last stage, capturing the victory by 5.4 seconds.

“Given the way that the championship and, above all, the finale panned out, I have to say that this is my nicest title. Also because it will most probably be my last national title,”  Baumschlager said. Victory at the Rally Waldviertel was Baumschlager’s third of the season, having previously won the Rebenland Rallye and the Škoda Rallye Liezen. In the first two events, including Rebenland Rallye, he was driving a Škoda Fabia R5, then switching to VW Polo R WRC.

Photos: Vit Bezdekovsky, Harald Illmer,