On January 9, 2025, the time had come again and the "Triple Seven" started punctually at 16:00 with 57 vehicles from 7 nations, divided into 17 manufacturers, on the main square in Schladming for the 28th Planai Classic.
Started early
The first mountain stage, which was brought forward by 30 minutes thanks to "zwischengas", finally took place at the same time as the wonderful sunset on the Dachstein road. The wheat was quickly separated from the chaff and the first ranking list was already available.
While Wolfgang Gerson (Ford Cortina 1600) was able to rely on Ennstal veteran Thomas Voglar as co-driver, Michael and Viktoria Krammer (Lancia Fulvia Rallye 1.3) found themselves in the top field of the Planai-Classic for the first time.
There could be several reasons for the lack of uniformity and absolute accuracy, the best of which came from Gerhard Witzany in the Ford Mustang with start number 12: "The route was probably measured in sunshine, but now the sun was gone, the temperature was a little lower and the route is already shorter."
Snowfall on the second day
The conditions changed overnight on Friday, the second day of the rally. Light snowfall blanketed the entire landscape and made the roads more challenging. This resulted in various drifts and skids. The Dutch "flatland team" Fons Jans and Rob Huisveld were doomed by an icy downhill left-hand bend and the front end of the Ford Escort hung heavily tilted downwards in the deep snow, leaving the car in a mess... Four heavy fire engines with 24 crew members solved the problem in no time at all, so that the blue car was back in the race without any damage, only slightly delayed.
The classification had changed, the leaders of the first day fell far behind and the Swiss from the canton of Schwyz with the Volvo 123 GT, Claude and Andrea Schwegler, suddenly found themselves in the lead. The VW Beetle Type 11 of Georg Geyer and Jan Soucek had moved up to second place.
The Voglar sisters Margarita and Magdalena, who won the Ennstal-Classic last summer with their Giulia, had fought their way back into the race, only 600 points behind in 14th place.
Through the cold of the night
The freezing cold night of the long knives on the trotting track in Gröbming is an annual highlight for the public. First a few trotters, then skijoring. While Marie Haubenwallner was pulled by the 16-year-old gelding "Red Marksman" and Ulrike Gruber-Blümel in the saddle, Florian Lackner hung on the rope of the oldest car in the starting field, Jonas and Gunter Lach's 1932 Austin Seven Ulster Special.
After the magnificent prelude, the participants began to fight for the hundredths of a second in various ways, either as fast as a whistle or at a snail's pace.
Beetle double after the third day
After three days, the 2025 winner was crowned. Contrary to expectations, there was a Beetle double.
Despite clutch problems on the Planai mountain road, Fritz Jirowsky and Gerhard Soukal won in the Beetle 1303S with a 101-point lead over Georg Geyer and Jan Soucek.
Third on the podium were last year's winners Hansi Mlcouch and Martin Laaha in a Volvo 121.
The Strietzel shows everyone
The 330 kilometers of the three days in January were done and the winners were chosen. However, one absolute highlight still needs to be emphasized. Le Mans winner and Formula 1 legend Hans Joachim Stuck and co-driver Malte Tom Büttner achieved an overall difference of just five hundredths of a second between the three lap times in the first heat at Niederöblarn airfield.
Thanks to the wonderful winter conditions, the Planai-Classic was challenging despite all the tectonic plate shifts, which lengthened or shortened one or two special stages between two heats, but in the end to the complete satisfaction of all 57 participants.
