Radinger/Wagner extend their lead, Racecar top positions for Thoms/Thoms, Falchetto/Falk, and Johannes Huber.
After a marathon in summer heat, the top ten of the Ennstal-Classic 2022 is set for the grand finale. Leaders Radinger/Wagner (Mini 1275 GT) hold a slim lead over Klackl/Kovacic-Klackl. Böhmdorfer/Böhmdorfer (Mercedes 350 SLC) and 2012 winners Schramke/Umfahrer (Jaguar XK 150) follow, with Volk, Ulm/Soucek, and Margarita/Magdalena also in the top ten. Much is still open before the Grand Prix in Gröbming, one can remain curious.
The Racecar Trophy, first with a hill climb on the Tauplitzalm and then in the classic vintage airfield race in Niederöblarn, offered spectators historic motorsport in all its facets. In scorching heat and on grippy asphalt, supercars battled formula cars, and rally legends competed against sports coupés. The Supercar class continues to be won by Heiko and Reiko Thoms in their Porsche 911 GT3 RS. In Rallye Cars & GT, Enrico Falchetto and Heike Falk lead in a Renault 5 Turbo2. In the formula car category, Johannes Huber in a KMW Porsche SP20 (1971) is ahead of Rudi Roubinek in a Fiat-Abarth Formula 2000 (1980) and Evita Stadler in a Formula Ford 1600 Hawke DL2 (1969). All Racecar results can be found here.
The VW-SP in Liezen hosted the Harley Davidson Charity Tour led by Ferdinand Fischer, with lively crowds in Mariazell, Lunz, and Steyr. Despite the marathon’s aftereffects, all participants attended the traditional Porsche Night in the Classic tent in Gröbming.
History Meets Innovation: Porsche in Focus at the Ennstal-Classic
While Wolfgang Porsche reported on company events, the focus at Ennstal-Classic remained historic cars. Porsche Austria brand manager Helmut Eggert, driving a former gendarmerie Porsche 356 SC Cabrio with Hans-Peter Schützinger, says tradition and innovation meet at Porsche: “The 356 showcased lightweight design, and today the all-electric Taycan shows what’s technically possible.”
Watchmaking Meets Motorsport: Porsche Design Grand Prix
Gerhard Novak, General Manager Timepieces at Porsche Lifestyle Group, is the “host” of the Porsche Design Grand Prix. He highlights the connection between watch and car fans. In both racing and everyday cars, it is about functionality, robust technology, and design.
What was once ‘form follows function’ now shows in historic, beautiful shapes – like the reissued Chronograph 1 from 1972.”
Expensive cars, expensive watches: Isn’t the hedonism of these products a little out of date today? Gerhard Novak: “The demand for high-quality products with a certain, historic history and tradition is greater today than ever before. The trend is clearly moving towards high-quality, mechanical watches. Whether this is hedonistic and therefore good or bad is a question we thankfully do not have to ask ourselves. We are currently expanding our manufactory for the third time, and that is certainly a good thing.”
The grand finale on Saturday, July 23, kicks off at 7:15 AM with the dash up the Stoderzinken. From 10:30 AM, Gröbming’s main street hosts “When Cars Learned to Walk” and an autograph session with Porsche celebrities Ricky Müller, Strietzel Stuck, and Richard Lietz. Warm-up for the Porsche Design Grand Prix starts at 12:30 PM, the race at 1:00 PM, followed by the grand finale and Flower Ceremony around 3:45 PM.
