This rally driver was totally lost!

Photo:Peter Märkl/Amotion Photography/Flikr

There is steely determination in Jonathan Hirschi eyes as he waits for his turn to attack  SS1 of this year's Jänner Rallye, the Austrian stop of the European Rally Championship.

Unfortunately, trouble for the Swiss driver starts just a minute into the stage:  perhaps too many "allez" and not enough "droite" in the notes read by the navigator and Hirschi hits a snow bank.  

Things seem a little tense in the cabin after that as the now noseless Peugeot  pops out of the forest and onto a fast open section.

I wish we had audio from inside the car for what happened next.   The conversation between the two must have been quite lively as they made their way out of a snow bank, onto a parking lot, into another snow bank, back into the parking lot, attempt to head into a field in the wrong direction and finally decide to take out (and with them) the parking lot gate.

We are not sure if, then making a 90 degree left turn soon after, the driver decided to bury the car in snow again to make a point.

Hirsute finished sixth overall.