Ice rather than snow the challenge on leg one

Ice rather than snow is set to be the main challenge on the opening leg of the International Jännerrallye, round one of the FIA European Rally Championship.

At 07:30hrs this morning the opening stage, Pierbach was largely wet, almost without ice. Stage two, Liebenau was half wet and half ice with St Oswald, stage three, coated entirely in ice.

As a result, the leading drivers have opted to run with studded tyres although the choice ranged between narrow and wide covers. Jan Kopecký, Bryan Bouffier and François Delecour have all opted for the wide tyre with 10-time Austrian champion Raimund Baumschlager selecting the narrow version.