When Raimund Baumschlager, together with co-driver Andreas Wolf, won the Internationale Sprint-Rallye in Styria in October 1986, the Upper Austrian was only 26 years old. His competition car was an Opel Manta 400, and the event was run around the then Österreichring. It was the young driver from Rosenau am Hengstpass's first overall victory, and in the following decades he would rise to become Austria's most successful rally driver.
Seven years later came his first major title. Together with Klaus Wicha, Baumschlager prevailed in the 1993 Austrian Rally Championship after a close duel with Franz Wittmann. At the season finale, the Semperit Rallye in the Waldviertel, second place was enough for him to secure the championship crown for the first time.
What followed was a long period at the top of Austrian rallying. By 2017 Baumschlager had won a total of 14 national titles, drove a wide range of vehicle concepts and held his own against several generations of younger rivals.
The Waldviertel as a special setting
It was in the Waldviertel, where his first championship had been decided in 1993, that Baumschlager experienced another career high in 2017. Before the season finale, Hermann Neubauer and Niki Mayr-Melnhof, as well as Baumschlager, still had a chance at the title.
Together with Pirmin Winklhofer in the Volkswagen Polo R WRC, Baumschlager had to fight until the last special stage before his 14th national championship was secured. He was already 57 years old at the time.
Nine years later the now 66-year-old returned to the top step of the podium at the 29th Herbstrallye around Waidhofen an der Thaya. Together with Thomas Zeltner in the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2, he prevailed after a close duel with the Czech Jan Cerny. It was only a fastest time on the final stage that decided it.
"The joy at the finish of the last special stage was enormous when it was clear that we had actually won. At nearly 67 years old you do not necessarily expect to still win rallies. All the more astonishing is what is possible when the mind really wants something!", Baumschlager explained after his success.
Between the Opel Manta 400 from 1986 and the Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 from 2026 lie four decades of technical development. Baumschlager witnessed the transition from the rear-wheel-drive Group B car through various generations of all-wheel-drive cars to today's Rally2 and repeatedly adapted to the new demands.
The number of his Austrian national championship titles is likely to remain unmatched for the foreseeable future. That he would win another rally 40 years after his first overall victory against significantly younger competitors is something even Baumschlager himself probably would not have expected.
