Manfred Stohl (born 7 July 1972, in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

rally Rally or rallye may refer to: Gatherings * Demonstration (political), a political rally, a political demonstration of support or protest, march, or parade * Pep rally, an event held at a United States school or college sporting event Sport ...

driver who debuted in the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

in 1991. Stohl's

co-driver A co-driver is the navigator of a rally car in the sport of rallying, who sits in the front passenger seat. The co-driver's job is to navigate, commonly by reading off a set of pacenotes to the driver (what lies ahead, where to turn, the severity ...

is fellow Austrian

Ilka Minor Ilka Minor (born 30 April 1975 in Klagenfurt) is a rallying co-driver from Austria. Rally career Minor debuted WRC at the 1997 Tour de Corse. She has partnered several experienced rally drivers throughout her career, including Manfred Stohl, ...

Career

Stohl ventured into rallying following the career path of his father Rudi Stohl. Stohl's first professional rally was the 1991 Rallye Côte d'Ivoire Bandama, driving an Audi 90 Quattro with Kay Gerlach as his co-driver. He took his first

points by finishing seventh in the same event the following year. After several more privateer entries in the WRC, Stohl got a contract with Team Mitsubishi Ralliart Germany to compete in the FIA Cup for Drivers of Production Cars (now the

Production World Rally Championship The FIA Production World Rally Championship, or PWRC, was a companion rally series to the World Rally Championship, contested by Group N rally cars. History The series started in 1987 as ''FIA Cup for Production Rally Drivers'' and obtained th ...

) driving a

Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, popularly referred to as the 'Evo', is a sports sedan and rally car based on the Lancer that was manufactured by Japanese manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors from 1992 until 2016. There have been ten official versio ...

. He finished third in the championship in 1997, second in 1998 and fourth in 1999, before winning the title in 2000 ahead of defending champion

Gustavo Trelles Gustavo Trelles (born 15 November 1955 in Minas) is a Uruguayan former rally driver. He competed actively in the World Rally Championship from 1988 to 1993, mainly with a Lancia Delta Integrale, and from 1996 to 2002, mainly with a Mitsubish ...

. Progressing from

Group N In relation to international motorsport governed by the FIA, Group N refers to regulations providing 'standard' large scale series production vehicles for competition. They are limited in terms of modifications permitted to the standard specifi ...

production cars to

World Rally Car A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...

s, Stohl took his first WRC points in ten years by driving his

Peugeot 206 WRC The Peugeot 206 WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Peugeot 206. It was used by Peugeot Sport, Peugeot's factory team, in the World Rally Championship from 1999 to 2003. The car brought Peugeot the manufacturers' world title three years in a ro ...

to seventh place at the 2003

Wales Rally GB Wales Rally GB was the most recent iteration of the United Kingdom's premier international motor rally, which ran under various names since the first event held in 1932. It was consistently a round of the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) calen ...

. In the 2004 season, driving mainly for the OMV World Rally Team, backed by Austrian oil company

OMV OMV (formerly abbreviation for Österreichische Mineralölverwaltung Aktiengesellschaft ('' en, Austrian Mineral Oil Administration Stock Company'')) is an Austrian multinational integrated oil, gas and petrochemical company which is headquart ...

, his best event result was sixth at the

Acropolis Rally The Acropolis Rally of Greece ( el, Ράλλυ Ακρόπολις) is a rally competition that is part of the World Rally Championship (WRC). The rally is held on very dusty, rough, rocky and fast mountain roads in mainland Greece, usually duri ...

In 2005, Stohl continued with the OMV team now driving the

Citroën Xsara WRC The Citroën Xsara WRC is a World Rally Car built for the Citroën World Rally Team by Citroën Racing to compete in the World Rally Championship. It is based upon the Citroën Xsara road car. The car was introduced for the 2001 World Rally Champ ...

. He took his first podium finish with a surprise second place at the

Cyprus Rally The Cyprus Rally is a rallying competition held yearly in Cyprus since 1970. The event is run by the Cyprus Automobile Association and is based in the city of Limassol (Lemesos). It is run on the winding roads of the nearby mountains of Troödo ...

, behind

Citroën Total Citroën () is a French automobile brand. The "Automobiles Citroën" manufacturing company was founded in March 1919 by André Citroën. Citroën is owned by Stellantis since 2021 and previously was part of the PSA Group after Peugeot acquired ...

factory driver

Sébastien Loeb Sébastien Loeb (; born 26 February 1974) is a French professional rallying, rally, auto racing, racing and rallycross driver. He is the most successful driver in the World Rally Championship (WRC), having won the world championship a record nin ...

. In the season-ending

Rally Australia Rally Australia is an automobile rally event which was held in Coffs Harbour as the final leg of the World Rally Championship (WRC) until 2018. First run in 1988, the rally was held in and around Perth, Western Australia until 2006. It was par ...

, he took his second podium by finishing third. His results placed him ninth in the Drivers' World Championship. In the 2006 season, with

Henning Solberg Henning Solberg (born 8 January 1973) is a Norwegian rally and rallycross driver. Together with his female co-driver Ilka Minor, he currently competes in the World Rally Championship (WRC) with cars of M-Sport. Solberg is the older brother of ...

as his team-mate, Stohl drove a

Peugeot 307 WRC The Peugeot 307 WRC is a World Rally Car based on the Peugeot 307 road car. It was used by Peugeot Sport, Peugeot's factory team, and replaced the championship-winning 206 WRC from 2004 to 2005 in the World Rally Championship. Competition his ...

for the Bozian Racing-run OMV Peugeot Norway WRT. He took four podium places and finished a career-best fourth in the drivers' standings. He also became one of the few drivers to reach participation in 100 world rallies without winning one of them. In 2007, Stohl returned to the wheel of a Xsara WRC for the OMV Kronos Citroën. After a disappointing season, in which he finished ninth in the championship and his best result was sixth place in both

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

and Japan, OMV withdrew their support of Stohl. This left him without a full-time drive for the 2008 season. Stohl returned to WRC at

2012 Rally New Zealand The 42nd Brother Rally New Zealand was the seventh round of 2012 FIA World Rally Championship. The event took place between 22 and 24 June 2012. Results Event standings Special stages Power stage The three fastest crews of this stage were aw ...

, driving

Ford Fiesta RS WRC The Ford Fiesta RS WRC is the World Rally Car built for the Ford World Rally Team by Ford Europe and M-Sport for use in the World Rally Championship 2011–2016. It is based upon the Ford Fiesta road car, and replaced the Ford Focus RS WRC, whi ...

for Brazil World Rally Team, replacing the regular driver Daniel Oliveira. He finished 10th in the rally. Since disappearing from the WRC, Stohl has successfully run his own team
Stohl Racing
The team is currently responsible for developing and running Subaru Impreza WRX STi R4 cars in the Intercontinental Rally Challenge, with the crew of 2008 PWRC champion

Andreas Aigner Andreas Aigner (born 24 September 1984 in Leoben) is an Austrian rally driver. He won the Production World Rally Championship (PWRC) in the 2008 season. Career Aigner made his World Rally Championship debut in 2005, finishing 19th on the Cypru ...

and Stohl's old partner, Ilka Minor. Meanwhile, Stohl -with a self-developed, petrol-powered Mitsubishi Lancer Evo IX- is contesting the Austrian Rally Championship (ÖRM); in 2012, he finished third overall against strong opposition, and remained winless through the season.

Racing record

Complete WRC results

PWRC results

JWRC Results

Complete FIA World Rallycross Championship results

Supercar

References

External links

*
RallyBase profile

eWRC profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stohl, Manfred 1972 births Living people Sportspeople from Vienna Austrian rally drivers World Rally Championship drivers World Rallycross Championship drivers Hyundai Motorsport drivers