At EM race

Neubauer: “The boys drove like hell”

Hermann Neubauer finished 19th.(Bild: Daniel Fessl)

Rally driver returned to the international stage on Gran Canaria. The Lungau native struggled at times in the face of strong international competition.

It took seven years for rally driver Hermann Neubauer to venture back into the European Championship. At the Rally Islas Canarias in Spain, the Lungau native started with co-driver Bernhard Ettel on Thursday and ultimately finished the European Championship round in 19th place overall, almost three minutes behind the field. For the 35-year-old, however, the focus on the 13 special stages was "the joy of driving" anyway, as he always emphasized. The lead-footer knew in advance that it would not be easy.

Nevertheless, he was impressed by the level of the international competition: "The guys in front of me were driving like hell." His best special stage was the penultimate one, where he finished twelfth. Skoda teammate Simon Wagner (Upper Austria) finished tenth, victory went to Yoann Bonato (Fra).