Rally driver Waldherr

“I took a bit of a mouthful”

Luca Waldherr finished second at the Rebenland Rally - only the champion was faster.(Bild: Daniel Fessl)

(Bild: GEPA pictures/ Matthias Trinkl)

"The celebrating was almost harder than the driving." Luca Waldherr had every reason to do so, after all he achieved his best result in the national rally championship by finishing second in Rebenland - only champion Simon Wagner was faster than the driver from Krumbach.

In the run-up to the second championship round around Leutschach in Rebenland, Waldherr had already spoken of the podium as the only real goal: "I was a bit full of myself then," Waldherr admitted. After all, he had been around 30 seconds off the podium in fourth place for a day and a half before the duo ahead of him retired: first Michael Lengauer, then Julian Wagner. "I was really happy with the first day," Luca reveals, "it rained on the second day and I've never driven the Rally2 car in the rain before." Nevertheless, he pushed hard in the Citroen C3. "I really pushed on the Eichberg stage - and then I saw Lengauer on the fifth bend."

Luca Waldherr celebrated his best championship finish on the podium with exuberance.(Bild: GEPA pictures/ Matthias Trinkl)

"Only we stayed cool"
This put him in third place, but he had to fight his way through with a puncture - before he was able to attack again on the Schlossberg stage: "I attacked to the maximum and after six kilometers Julian's car was on the track in front of me."

Made second place, behind Simon Wagner. "It was just the two of us who stayed cool." This is also reflected in the championship standings: after fourth place in the January Rally and second in the Rebenland, Luca is only 13 points behind Wagner in second place overall. "I haven't lost too much yet, so that makes sense."