The legendary French driver, co-driven by Fabrice Gordon, enters the Austrian event aiming to match Andrea Zivian's victory in last year's edition behind the wheel of the same car, while extending his lead in the pre-2000 category of the FIA European Historic Rally Championship
Francois Delecour and Fabrice Gordon have high goals for Rallye Weiz (Austria) behind the wheel of the Michelin-shod IKE Racing 306 Maxi: repeat the excellent performance of Andrea ‘ZIPPO’ Zivian - who won the 2025 edition in the very same car on its competitive debut following a ground-up rebuild featuring all of IKE's latest evolutions - and extend their lead in the FIA European Historic Rally Championship (FIA EHRC) pre-2000 category, of which this Austrian event marks the fifth round.
François Delecour currently leads the championship after the opening four rounds, thanks to victories at the Historic Vltava Rallye and the Rallye du Chablais. Despite a retirement on the penultimate stage of the Ardeca Ypres Historic Rally while leading, he is determined to consolidate his lead this weekend.
Even though this is his first time tackling the Austrian stages, the 1993 WRC runner-up remains highly positive: "It's a very fast rally, with narrow, twisty roads that will suit the agility of the 306 Maxi. However, the changing asphalt surfaces, very low grip, and dirt pulled onto the road from corner-cutting represent hazards we'll need to watch closely. But we have a very strong car-and-tyre package. Combined with our experience, I'm confident we can do a good job on what is still a completely new rally for us."
The crew will also benefit from the deep route knowledge of Andrea Zivian, founder of IKE Racing, who has five starts under his belt here, including two overall wins and three second-place finishes.
"I really like Rallye Weiz because it features highly technical, twisty stages that are incredibly fun to drive, despite the low-grip surface," explains ZIPPO. "I only drove the 306 Maxi here last year - having used the Audi quattro in all my previous appearances - and the car's performance was outstanding, even though it was its first competitive outing after the rebuild. With some extra fine-tuning from testing and the opening rounds, and with a driver of Francois's immense talent and experience, I'm confident our 306 can perform very well. That said, we take nothing for granted. We will all work as hard as possible to bring home a good result and, above all, strengthen our lead in the championship."
Rally Schedule
Friday, July 17 (from 15:30): The rally gets underway as cars head out to tackle the first three special stages, totalling 40.88 competitive kilometers.
Saturday, July 18: The second leg features another eight special stages, totalling 99.62 km against the clock.
Finish: The rally concludes back in Weiz after a total route of 377.80 km, followed immediately by the podium and prize-giving ceremony, from 18:00 o
Photo: The IKE Racing Peugeot 306 Maxi at the Ypres Rally
