Rudi Stohl
Rudolf "Rudi" Stohl (born April 21, 1947 in Vienna ) is an Austrian rally driver.
Although he only drove once as a works driver for Audi, Stohl can boast a few podium finishes in rallies in the World Championship. Until 2002 he often took part in the Safari Rally as well as the Hong Kong-Beijing Rally (failure) and the China Rally. This makes him a well-known Austrian rally driver.
Motorsport
begin
After graduating from school, Stohl did an apprenticeship as a car mechanic, which he completed with a journeyman's examination and later completed an apprenticeship as a master mechanic.
It was only when Rudi Stohl converted a car into a rally car for a customer of his employer Austro-Fiat that he was "infected" with the motorsport virus.
Rudi Stohl made his first attempts at rallying in 1969 with a damaged Moskvich that he could buy cheaply and converted into a rally car. After he soon realized that this car was unsuccessful, he subsequently not only tried his hand as a driver, but also as a co-driver in a Puch , Fiat or Porsche . His own missions were often characterized by wild rollovers and rides, but he survived all of them almost unharmed.
In 1972 he dared a fresh start with his first World Championship appearance at the Acropolis rally. Already at this point, Stohl had to realize that he was in a losing position without substantial financial support from potent sponsors.
New start in extreme rallies
Rudi Stohl then switched to extreme rallies because he saw greater opportunities here. However, this meant that Rudi Stohl and his respective co-drivers often had two functions at the same time due to the always meager budget: that of the driver and that of the mechanic.
Nevertheless, Rudi Stohl could look forward to initial successes. In 1980, at the age of 33, Stohl was able to take home an impressive fifth place in the first Himalayan rally . In 1982 he was able to surpass this success with second place overall in the Himalaya Rally (co-driver Reinhard Kaufmann). At times he was even in the lead, but had to let the Kenyan Shaw, who was driving a factory car from Datsun, pass. In 1982 Rudi Stohl and his co-driver Reinhard Kaufmann were the first Austrians to reach the finish of the Safari Rally in Kenya (12th place in the overall ranking). In the early 1980s Gabi Husar was his copliotin, who later became the first woman to win an Austrian championship run.
In Peter Klein from ORF he found an influential friend who invented the artificial word “private driver”, since in rallying only the terms applicant, first driver and second driver (copilot or navigator) exist.
Rudi Stohl achieved his first major success in 1983 with his renowned team partner Franz Wurz . With an Audi 80 , the two won group “A” of the Argentina rally . This was all the more noteworthy as it was the first Group A victory of an Audi 80 in a World Championship round. In the overall classification this meant 6th place.
From 1985 on, Rudi Stohl only drove on the rally slopes in a wide variety of Audi models. At the 34th Safari Rally from March 29 to April 2, 1986, Stohl started as a works driver for Audi Sport for the first time, but retired after an engine failure.
Rudi Stohl achieved another outstanding success in 1990 with second place at the World Rally Championship in Ivory Coast. In the following years from 1991 to 1997 he was able to score points in numerous rallies: World Rally Championship round Ivory Coast (third place in 1991), World Rally Championship round Argentina (fifth place), at the Acropolis Rally (World Rally Championship round in Greece, second place in 1995) and China Rally (fourth place, 1997).
Hall of Fame
The greatest milestones in Rudi Stohl's career are the 1986 vice world championship title of Group “A” and the award for “Austrian Automobile Sportsman of the Year 1986”.
In order to achieve the really big international breakthrough, Stohl lacked a place in a works team. In comparison, a works team consumes more than twice the annual budget of a normal driver in a single rally. In addition, only the works teams are equipped with the best parts for the racing cars.
Private
Rudi Stohl was married and, with his then wife Elfriede, has their son Manfred , who entered racing in 1990 and is also a successful rally driver.
successes
| 1973: |
 Acropolis rally
|
failure | as co-pilot of Reinhard Kaufmann on a Toyota 1000 |
| 1980: |
 Himalayan rally
|
5th place | |
| 1982: |
 Safari rally
|
12th place | with copilot Reinhard Kaufmann |
| 1982: |
Himalayan rally
|
2nd place | with copilot Reinhard Kaufmann |
| 1983: |
 Argentina rally
|
6th place | with Franz Wurz - 2 drivers |
| 1986: |
 Rally Monte Carlo
|
with copilot Peter Seisenbacher | |
|
Acropolis rally
|
6th place | with copilot Reinhard Kaufmann | |
|
Argentina rally
|
6th place | with copilot Reinhard Kaufmann | |
 Rally Ivory Coast
|
7th place | with copilot Reinhard Kaufmann | |
| → | Vice World Champion in Gr. "A" | "OSK Motorsportman of the Year" | |
| 1987: |
 Portugal rally
|
7th place | with copilot Ernst Rohringer |
|
Safari rally
|
7th place | with copilot Jürgen Bertl | |
|
Acropolis rally
|
9th place | ||
| 1988: |
Safari rally
|
8th place | with copilot Reinhard Kaufmann |
|
Acropolis rally
|
5th place | with copilot Ernst Rohringer | |
|
Argentina rally
|
4th Place | with copilot Ernst Rohringer | |
| 1989: |
Acropolis rally
|
6th place | with copilot Ernst Rohringer |
| 1990: |
Safari rally
|
7th place | with copilot Reinhard Kaufmann |
|
Argentina rally
|
4th Place | with copilot Reinhard Kaufmann | |
|
Rally Ivory Coast
|
2nd place | with copilot Ernst Rohringer | |
| 1991: |
 Expo rally ( Hungary ) |
5th place | with copilot Reinhard Kaufmann |
 Rally sprint ( Austria ) |
3rd place | ||
|
Rally Ivory Coast
|
3rd place | with copilot Reinhard Kaufmann | |
| 1992: |
Argentina rally
|
5th place | |
| 1993: |
Safari rally
|
8th place | with copilot Jürgen Bertl |
|
Argentina rally
|
7th place | ||
| 1994: |
Safari rally
|
6th place | with copilot Jürgen Bertl |
|
Argentina rally
|
7th place | ||
| 1995: |
Safari rally
|
9th place | |
|
Acropolis rally
|
2nd place | ||
| 1997: |
 China rally
|
4th Place | with copilot Jürgen Bertl |
|
Safari rally
|
8th place | with copilot Jürgen Bertl | |
| 2001: |
Safari rally
|
4th place in group "N" | |
| 2002: |
Safari rally
|
2nd place in group "N" |
Web links
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ Martin Holmes: World Rallying 9 1986–1987 , page 47
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Stohl, Rudi |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stohl, Rudolf |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Austrian rally driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 21, 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vienna |