Austrian Rally Championship (Group B era)

Austria was Audi territory. After an Opel Ascona 400 won in 1982, Audi Quattros took the next three titles, and the snowy Jänner Rallye at Freistadt — a European championship round — became a Quattro benefit.

3
Group B titles for the Audi Quattro
2
titles for Franz Wittmann
5
Jänner Rallye wins for Audi 1982–86
1
title for the Opel Ascona 400

Champions

Year Driver Co-driver Car
1982 Gerhard Kalnay Ferdinand Hinterleitner Opel Ascona 400
1983 Franz Wittmann sen. Kurt Nestinger Audi Quattro
1984 Franz Wittmann sen. Kurt Nestinger Audi Quattro
1985 Wilfried Wiedner Franz Zehetner Audi Quattro
1986 Georg Fischer Thomas Zeltner Audi (see note)

The Jänner Rallye

The winter rally around Freistadt in Upper Austria was a coefficient-2 European championship round in most of these years.

  • 1982: Franz Wittmann and Kurt Nestinger won in an Audi Quattro entered by MIG Linz; Georg Fischer was second in a Talbot Sunbeam Lotus and Kalnay third in his Ascona 400.
  • 1983: Wittmann and Nestinger won again in a Quattro A1.
  • 1984: Wittmann and Nestinger won a third time, now in a Quattro A2, ahead of Björn Waldegård in another A2 and Per Eklund in an Audi 80 Quattro.
  • 1985: Wilfried Wiedner and Franz Zehetner won in a MIG Linz Quattro A2 on the way to the title.
  • 1986: Fischer and Zeltner won in an Audi 80 Quattro.
Franz Wittmann senior on his way to victory on the 1984 Jänner Rallye in an Audi Quattro A2.
Franz Wittmann senior on his way to victory on the 1984 Jänner Rallye in an Audi Quattro A2.Photo: Eddi Laumanns aka RX-Guru via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

Wittmann, Wiedner and the Audi Quattro on the snow of the Jänner Rallye: Austria’s championship from 1982 to 1986.

Other events

Austria’s other European rounds were held near Klagenfurt, Vienna and Gloggnitz. Wittmann won the 1200 Minuten ARBÖ rally in 1983; Wiedner won the 1984 Vienna-based Alpe Adria rally; Opel driver Sepp Haider won the ARBÖ Klagenfurt in 1982 and the 1985 Vienna rally in an Opel Manta 400. Wittmann also took the 1984 YU Rally in Yugoslavia, a European round, in a Quattro A2. On the 1986 Semperit rally the driver Marián Határ was killed in an accident on the first stage.

Champions follow German Wikipedia’s list, the only source we found for it. It gives Fischer’s 1986 car as an ‘Audi Coupé quattro’, while eWRC-results.com shows him winning that year’s Jänner Rallye in an Audi 80 Quattro; we have not confirmed which car he used for the rest of the season, nor whether it ran in Group B or Group A. Event results come from eWRC-results.com.

In pictures 1 photos

Audi Quattro A1 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018
Audi Quattro A1 at the Goodwood Festival of Speed 2018Photo: BWard 1997 via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0

More from Championships

Swiss Rally Championship (Group B era)Balmer against Ferreux, and the Rallye du Valais: Switzerland’s championship until Group B was banned there.Read more →European Rally Championship (Group B era)Fifty rallies a season, points coefficients and four straight Lancia titles: the ERC from 1982 to 1986, season by season.Read more →British Rally Championship (Group B era)McRae, Blomqvist, Brookes and Lovell: the British Open Rally Championship from 1982 to 1986, with results, cars and the 1984 title fight.Read more →Portuguese Rally Championship (Group B era)Santos’ Escort and Moutinho’s Renault 5 Turbo, plus the Madeira rally: Portugal’s championship in the Group B years.Read more →Irish Tarmac Rally Championship (Group B era)Coleman, McHale and the Opel Manta 400 on the narrow asphalt of Galway, the Circuit of Ireland and the Lakes.Read more →Finnish Rally Championship (Group B era)A separate Group B class from 1983, won every year by an Audi Quattro: Lampi, Laine and Heinonen on Finnish snow and gravel.Read more →

Sources

  1. Wikipedia (DE), Österreichische Rallye-Staatsmeisterschaft — https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Österreichische_Rallye-Staatsmeisterschaft
  2. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1982 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1982/6-erc/
  3. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1983 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1983/6-erc/
  4. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1984 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1984/6-erc/
  5. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1985 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1985/6-erc/
  6. eWRC-results.com, FIA European Rally Championship 1986 (event results) — https://www.ewrc-results.com/season/1986/6-erc/

All text is original writing for Grouve Sports Management Group, based on the sources above. Facts checked on 21 October 2026.

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Thumbnail photos on this page: Calreyn88 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0); estoril (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Brian Snelson (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); _morgado (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); Florian Volk from Deutschland (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0); BWard 1997 (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0).