The 1973 Austrian Rally (formally the 44. Austrian Alpine Rally) was the ninth round of the inaugural World Rally Championship season. Run in mid-September around Baden, Austria, the rally was entirely on gravel surface special stages. 1973 would be the only year to see the WRC hold an event in Austria, despite the strong presence of Austrian drivers in the series through the present.
Report In 1973, and for several years afterward, only manufacturers were given points for finishes in WRC events. Austria hosted BMW's first ever win of the World Rally Championship, with front-runners Alpine-Renault, Saab, and Fiat also making strong bids for points.
Results 1973 Austrian Rally results Finish Totaltime Group Car # DriverCo-driver Car Mfr.points Overall Ingroup 1 1 3 h : 58 m : 55.5 s 2 8 Achim Warmbold Jean Todt BMW 2002 TII 20 2 1 4 h : 0 m : 10.1 s 4 2 Bernard Darniche Alain Mahé Alpine-Renault A110 1800 15 3 2 4 h : 0 m : 11.2 s 2 15 Per Eklund Bo Reinicke Saab 96 V4 12 4 3 4 h : 1 m : 10.5 s 2 16 Björn Waldegård Hans Thorszelius BMW 2002 TII 10 5 2 4 h : 1 m : 25.8 s 4 11 Jean-Pierre Nicolas Michel Vial Alpine-Renault A110 1800 6 3 4 h : 6 m : 15.9 s 4 3 Håkan Lindberg Helmut Eisendle Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye 6 7 4 4 h : 6 m : 38.3 s 4 5 Klaus Russling Wolfgang Weiß Porsche 911 4 8 4 4 h : 9 m : 5.8 s 2 9 Ove Andersson Gunnar Häggbom Toyota Celica 3 9 5 4 h : 10 m : 2.2 s 2 17 Herbert Grünsteidl Georg Hopf BMW 2002 10 6 4 h : 11 m : 16.9 s 2 12 Tony Fall Mike Wood Volkswagen 1303S 1 11 7 4 h : 11 m : 48.5 s 2 6 Harry Källström Claes Billstam Volkswagen 1303S 12 8 4 h : 14 m : 35.8 s 2 25 Franz Wittman Hans Siebert Volkswagen 1303S 13 9 4 h : 20 m : 17.1 s 2 24 Gunnar Blomqvist Gerhard Kalnay Opel Ascona 14 1 4 h : 35 m : 14.1 s 1 27 Vic Dietmayer BMW 2002 15 10 4 h : 48 m : 31.8 s 2 47 H. Steinwender F. Mick Fiat 124 16 2 4 h : 58 m : 23.7 s 1 29 Walter Zöckl Günther Böhs BMW 2002 Retired (accident) 2 1 Günther Janger Harald Gottlieb Volkswagen 1303S Retired (mechanical) 2 4 Walter Röhrl Jochen Berger Opel Ascona Retired (mechanical) 2 4 Stig Blomqvist Arne Hertz Saab 96 V4 Retired (accident) 4 10 Raffaele Pinto Arnaldo Bernacchini Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye Retired (mechanical) 4 14 Alcide Paganelli Ninni Russo Fiat Abarth 124 Rallye Retired 4 19 Walter Roser Erich Bazalka Alpine-Renault A110 1600 Retired (mechanical) 2 21 Richard Bochnicek Sepp-Dieter Kernmayer Citroën DS 23 Source: Independent WRC archive
Championship standings after the event 1973 World Rally Championship for Manufacturers points standings after round 8 After round 8 Team Season end Position Points Position Points 1 107 Alpine Renault 1 147 2 69 Fiat 2 84 3 42 Saab 5 42 4 36 Ford 3 76 5 33 Citroën 7 33 6 24 BMW 8 28 7 24 Porsche 9 27 8 22 Datsun 6 34 9 19 Volvo 4 44 10 15 Wartburg 14 15 11 14 Volkswagen 15 15 12 13 Lancia 13 17 13 13 Peugeot 16 13 14 13 Opel 11 25 15 12 Polski Fiat 12 18 16 5 Toyota 10 25 17 4 Mitsubishi 17 4 18 3 Škoda 18 3 19 1 Audi 20 2
References
External links Official website of the World Rally Championship 1973 Austrian Rally at Rallye-info