WHAT'S NEW IN GERMANY IN 2007?
:: A record entry of 104 cars has been accepted for
Rally Deutschland, round 10 of the 2007 World Rally
Championship, more than any other world rally so
far this year and far more than the event has
received in its five years at world level.
:: The Headquarters stays in Trier, but the
permanent Service Park moves back from Bostalsee
to the outskirts of the town. There will be a Remote
Service Park 83km away at Konken, visited twice on
the Saturday.
:: Although the Headquarters is again at the Hotel
Park Plaza in the town centre, the Media Centre is
some 3km north at Trier Arena, as in 2003. The
Service Park at Messepark is about 2km south of
the Headquarters, west of the River Mosel.
:: There is greater emphasis on the vineyard stages
(eight in all, visited on two days) and fewer of the
Saarland-type public road stages.
:: There will be a new location for Shakedown. This
will straddle the motorway to Luxembourg, very
close to the border with that country.
:: There will be the usual Thursday evening
Ceremonial Start at the Porta Negra; the rally
officially begins at 0930 Friday, from the Service
Park.
:: Gone is the superspecial on roads around the
outskirts of St Wendel. Instead, there is a
spectacular superspecial in the centre of Trier,
around the Porta Negra. Run in the middle of the
Sunday leg, this will be called "Circus Maximum
Trier". The superspecial is a development of the
circuit stage held in previous years at St Wendel.
Four cars will race round the 1.5km course at the
same time, starting at around 15-second intervals.
Unfortunately, plans to show live television from
the stage fell through. All other stages are the
same in whole or in part as in previous years.
:: ATTENTION: All spectator tickets to see the
downtown stage in Trier on Sunday must be
purchased in advance. Tickets will not be sold on
the day and there will be no possibility of entering
the spectator enclosures without a ticket.
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WHAT IS SPECIAL ABOUT GERMANY?
:: In the same way that the Formula 1 race at
Nurburgring has been called the European Grand
Prix, Rallye Deutschland could almost have a similar
title: Trier is in remarkably easy reach of many
different European countries.
:: Trier is the oldest city in the country. Porta Negra
is a large historic archway in Trier, and is registered
as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, dating back to
Roman times.
:: This year, Rallye Deutschland is the second of five
all-asphalt rallies in the World Championship.
:: There are essentially three different types of
special stage on this event. 1) vineyard stages, using
artificial roads built in and around vineyards planted
in the hillsides beside the Mosel River; 2) roads in
the military areas further east, which feature
surfaces which can be treacherously dirty, with large
and very immovable concrete stones beside the
roads; and 3) closed public road stages, where
there can be very tricky changes of surface in poor
weather, especially in wooded regions. This diversity
of conditions comes from the history of the German
World Championship event, in which three events
(the Deutschland, Hunsruck and Saarland rallies)
combined forces at the behest of the two governing
bodies, AvD and ADAC, to present the best
opportunities German motorsport could offer. The
Saarland Rally continues to this day and is a
qualifying event in the national championship.
:: Although the background to the event is
long-standing, Germany is one of the more recent
additions to the FIA World Rally Championship. The
first time world status came to the event was in
2002. Before the World Championship era,
Germany was included in the FIA European
Championship, then the sport's premier league. In
1970 and 1971, it was called the German Rally and
in 1972 the Olympia Rally (to complement the
Olympic Games held in West Germany that year).
Before then, there were two events, the East and
the West German Rallies.
:: In the 1950s, German drivers ruled rally sport!
In the first five years of the FIA European
Championship, five different German drivers took
turns winning what was at that time the premier
title of the sport. Since then, not so many have
succeeded, the notable exception being Walter
Rohrl, who won the world title in 1980 and 1982.
Achim Warmbold and Armin Schwarz have both
won world championship events. Among those who
succeeded at European level were Walter Schock,
Eugen Bohringer, Gunther Klass, Jochi Kleint and
Erwin Weber (all became European title holders),
while Armin Kremer became both European and
Asia-Pacific champion.
:: Many German car manufacturers have been
active in rally sport, including names such as
Porsche, DKW, BMW, Mercedes and Opel, but only
Audi achieved the Manufacturers' world title. The
Japanese company Toyota won the World
Manufacturers' title three times while operating
from a Germany base.
:: Last year's experiment to run two parallel
national rally championships does not continue:
there is again one top series, the Germany Rally
Championship (DRM), which is based mostly on
asphalt events. The results of the Friday stages,
then the Saturday stages on the World
Championship event count as individual rounds of
the national series. The final championship round
will be the gravel rally at Lausitz (near Dresden)
on 19 October.
:: Because the DRM has a class for GT cars, these
are allowed to take part at this World Championship
rally. Entries for two Porsche GT3s were accepted,
and the FIA decided that these cars must run in a
separate national status event behind the other
drivers, but following the same route. The official
reason that these cars must not compete against
other entries is that the Porsches develop more
than the maximum allowed power limit of 300bhp.
This situation is reminiscent of a similar crisis which
afflicted the 2004 Wales Rally GB, when a second
event had to be organised at short notice for just
two competitors, whose entry in cars which were
not eligible had been accepted in error. Finally, it
was announced during Neste Oil Rally Finland that
the second Porsche driver had decided not to drive
in Rallye Deutschland! The last time a GT car (as
opposed to a purpose-built Group B car), ran on a
World Championship rally was when Neil Allport
and the late Rodger Freeth finished sixth on the
1986 New Zealand Rally in a Mazda RX7, although
smaller two-seater cars were allowed in World
Championship rallies until 1991.
:: Leading the DRM at the time of writing is
33-year-old Sandro Wallenwein in Subaru. He is a
member of a long-established German rallying
family which extends now to three generations, led
by 76-year-old Kurt and 51-year-old Thomas. The
dynasty continues: 20-year-old younger brother
Mark entered Neste Oil Rally Finland in a Group N
Ignis Sport and this event in a Ford Fiesta ST.
:: Greatest attraction for local fans will be the entry
of Germany's greatest lady motorsport all-rounder,
42-year-old Ellen Lohr, at the wheel of a Subaru
Group N.
:: Bring your umbrella! At this time of year,
rainstorms are frequent, sudden and heavy.
Successful weather forecasting work by the teams
is usually one of the most essential ingredients for
success.
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TYRE SPECIFICS
:: Number of sets expected: 6.
:: Number of different tread patterns allowed: 2.
:: Number of tyres which can be used during the
event, including Shakedown: 43.
:: Number of tyres which can be nominated for use
on the event: 60.
:: Maximum stage distance to be covered on the
same set of tyres: 64.30km (stages 1-3 and 4-6).
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EVENT SPECIFICS
Route
:: Total distance: 1227.04km.
:: Number of stages: 19.
:: Number of different stage venues: ten.
:: Maximum number of times same stage roads
are used: twice.
:: Stage distance: 356.27km.
:: Stage surfaces: asphalt, sometimes with broken
surfaces.
:: Longest stage: 30.55km (stage 10+14).
:: Highest elevation on stage: 520 metres (on
stage 10+14).
:: Central Service Park: Messepark.
:: Shakedown Stage: 5.32km long, at a location
12km west of Trier.
:: Ceremonial Start: Thursday 2000 at Porta Negra.
:: Official Start: Friday 0930 at Messepark.
:: Superspecials: one (stage 17).
:: Stages in darkness: none.
Restart times
:: Friday (6 stages,128.60km) at 0930 from
Messepark.
:: Saturday (8 stages, 164.86km) at 0700 from
Messepark.
:: Sunday (5 stages, 62.81km) at 0800 from
Messepark.
:: Finish: 1500 Sunday at Porta Nigra.
Anticipated times of leading car at end of last stage
:: Friday 1755.
:: Saturday 1755.
:: Sunday 1435.
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ADMINISTRATION
(Telephone country code )
Permanent Rally Headquarters
ADAC Rallyeburo, Am Bahnhof 2, 55765 Birkenfeld,
Germany
Tel:
Fax:
Email: various
Headquarters during event (from Mon 13 Aug)
Park Plaza Hotel, Nikolaus-Koch-Platz 1, 54290 Trier
Tel/Fax: as above.
Press Office
c/o die agentour GmbH, Peter Linke, Ruckerstr 4,
80336 Munich
Tel:
Fax:
Email:
Press Office during rally
Arena Trier, Castell-Forte-Str 3, 54292 Trier
Tel:
Fax:
Email:
Overnight Parcs Fermes: Viehmarktplatz, Trier
(except priority drivers re-starting under SupeRally
regulations).
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TEAM NEWS
(M = Manufacturers, MT = Manufacturers' Team)
CITROEN TOTAL WORLD RALLY TEAM (M)
Citroen Xsara WRCars have won this event for the
past six times. Once (when the event was an FIA
candidate rally in 2001) in the hands of Philippe
Bugalski, then five times with Sebastien Loeb. No
other driver has ever won the same World
Championship rally five times running.
BP-FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM (M)
A total of 11 Focuses again. . . Ford used to like
Rallye Deutschland: on the 1994 event (then a top
coefficient round of the European Championship),
Escort RS Cosworths took the top six places! This
will be the first asphalt event for the 2007 model
Focus World Rally Car.
OMV KRONOS CITROEN WORLD RALLY TEAM (MT)
Co-driver for Duval will be Patrick Pivato. This car
will be in traditional OMV colours, but also with the
yellow of the Belgian federation. The car of Stohl
will be highly-decorated in a "colours of the
rainbow" design, the work of three children who
won prizes in the OMV "Move and Help" children
educational programme. The winning slogan was
"Manny (Manfred) - Move faster, Ilka Help him".
The winning German girl suggested that her rivals
were also good and asked that the car should
display the work of all the top three competitors.
SUBARU WORLD RALLY TEAM (M)
This will be the first asphalt event for the 2007
Type 12B version Subaru Impreza World Rally Car.
STOBART VK M-SPORT FORD RALLY TEAM (MT)
This will be Henning Solberg's 50th world
championship rally start.
MUNCHI'S FORD WORLD RALLY TEAM (MT)
The Munchi's team are not competing on this event.
On the same weekend, Villagra competes in the
Vuelta de la Manzana in his native Argentina. This
is a traditional event run at General Roca, in the
centre of the nation's apple-growing industry, and
all promotion of the event, including the winners'
garlands, involves apples!
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NEWS
WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP
:: Duval is back again as a member of a registered
team! The Belgian - who was sidelined immediately
after winning Telstra Rally Australia in 2005 with
Citroen - is driving car number 6, the second car
of the OMV Kronos Citroen team. This is only a
one-off drive at present, but it is hoped that there
will be more events for him.
JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
:: After missing Neste Oil Rally Finland, the Suzuki
team cars of Andersson and Aava are back. On
going to press, however, there were doubts
whether Andersson would be able to take the start
in Germany, after a road driving licence problem in
his native Sweden. He was unable to start Neste
Oil Rally Finland for this reason.
:: Two JRC drivers have nominated Deutschland as
the rally they will miss: Andrea Cortinovis (Renault)
and Vilius Rozukas (Suzuki).
:: Yoann Bonato has a second drive in the PH Sport
entered Citroen C2 R2. Like in Finland, this entry is
supported by the FFSA (the French Federation)
under a young driver scheme.
:: As was discovered in Finland, the M-Sport Fiesta
S1600 World Championship programme has come
to a halt. Alex Bettega drove the TRT team entry in
Finland in a Suzuki Ignis S1600, but in Germany the
entry will be taken up by Luca Griotti, who drives a
Clio S1600 (the team's third rally in a different type
of car!). M-Sport meanwhile have agreed a change
of programme for Bettega, in which their obligation
to run the Fiesta S1600 has been changed for an
entry in Corsica in a World Rally Car.
REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS RUN-DOWN
:: African Rally Championship (ARC). The final
round in Zambia is run at the same time as
Deutschland, but the top three championship
positions (Rautenbach-Singh-Verlaque) cannot
change.
:: Asia-Pacific Rally Championship (APRC). Round 5
Malaysia takes place one week before Deutschland,
with Crocker 14 points ahead of Taguchi.
:: European Rally Championship (ERC). The protest
against Iliev in Bulgaria remains unsettled. Since
then, Renato Travaglia has been excluded after
finishing best ERC driver in Madeira. The next round
will be the Barum Rally in Zlin, one week after
Deutschland.
:: International Rally Championship (IRC). Basso
won the Madeira Rally for Fiat, on the same
weekend as Finland. The next round will be the ERC
Barum Rally.
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2007 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP CALENDAR &
RESULTS
Event - date. . .
website. . .
Overall winner; PCWRC / Group N winner;
JRC / Super 1600 winner.
01 - MC - 19-21 Jan. . .
http://www.acm.mc/. . .
Loeb (Citroen); - / Burri (Subaru);
- / Prokop (Citroen).
02 - S - 9-11 Feb (PC1). . .
. . .
Gronholm (Ford); Svedlund (Subaru);
no S1600 starters.
03 - N - 16-18 Feb (J1). . .
http://www.rallynorway.no/. . .
Hirvonen (Ford); - / Flodin (Subaru);
Andersson (Suzuki).
04 - MEX - 9-11 Mar (PC2). . .
http://www.rallymexico.com/. . .
Loeb (Citroen); Higgins (Mitsubishi);
no S1600 starters.
05 - P - 30 Mar-1 Apr (J2). . .
http://www.rallydeportugal.pt/. . .
Loeb (Citroen); - / Flodin (Subaru);
Andersson (Suzuki).
06 - RA - 4-6 May (PC3). . .
http://www.rallyargentina.com/. . .
Loeb (Citroen); Villagra (Mitsubishi);
no S1600 starters.
07 - I - 18-20 May (J3). . .
http://www.rallyitaliasardegna.com/. . .
Gronholm (Ford); - / Manfrinato (Subaru);
Aava (Suzuki).
08 - GR - 31 May-3 Jun (PC4). . .
http://www.acropolisrally.gr/. . .
Gronholm (Ford); Arai (Subaru);
- / Kaltsounis (Opel).
09 - FIN - 3-5 Aug (J4). . .
http://www.nesteoilrallyfinland.fi/. . .
Gronholm (Ford); - / Flodin (Subaru);
Sandell (Renault).
10 - D - 17-19 Aug (J5). . .
.
11 - NZ - 31 Aug-2 Sept (PC5). . .
http://www.rallynz.org.nz/.
12 - E - 5-7 Oct (J6). . .
http://www.rallyracc.com/.
13 - F - 12-14 Oct (J7). . .
.
14 - J - 26-28 Oct (PC6). . .
http://www.rallyjapan.jp/.
15 - IRL - 16-18 Nov (PC7). . .
https://rallyireland.org/.
16 - GB - 30 Nov-2 Dec (PC8). . .
http://www.walesrallygb.com/.
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CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS
:: WCR (after round 9 Finland): BP-Ford WRT 132,
Citroen Total WRT 92, Subaru WRT 48, Stobart VK
M-Sport Ford RT 45, OMV Kronos Citroen WRT 27,
Munchi's Ford WRT 6.
:: WCD (after round 9 Finland): Gronholm 75,
Loeb 62, Hirvonen 57, Sordo + H.Solberg 28,
P.Solberg 26, Atkinson 20, Latvala 12, Carlsson +
Stohl 9, etc.
:: JWRC (after round 4 Finland): Andersson 28,
Aava 24, Sandell 19, Molder 14, Beres + Burkart 9,
etc.
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EVENT HISTORY
Recent winners
2006 - Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, Citroen Xsara
WRC (101.13kph).
2005 - Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, Citroen Xsara
WRC (102.91kph).
2004 - Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, Citroen Xsara
WRC (102.19kph).
2003 - Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, Citroen Xsara
WRC (102.69kph).
2002 - Sebastien Loeb/Daniel Elena, Citroen Xsara
WRC (103.67kph).
Note: the first World Championship rally was in
2002
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ENTRY DETAILS
There will be 24 World Rally Cars (including a
Citroen Xsara entered by Astra for Toni
Gardemeister); 19 entries in the Junior series; and
6 diesel car competitors in Opel, VW and Skoda
cars.
Leading entries and records of drivers at this event
in the last five years.
No: Driver (NAT). . . Born. . . 1st WCR. . .
WCR events/wins. . . '02, '03, '04, '05, '06
CITROEN TOTAL WRT (M)
1: Sebastien Loeb (F). . . 26.02.74. . . 1999. . .
91/32. . . 1, 1, 1, 1, 1
2: Daniel Sordo (E). . . 2.05.83. . . 2003. . .
37/0. . . --, --, 19, 13, 2
BP-FORD WRT (M)
3: Marcus Gronholm (FIN). . . 5.02.68. . . 1989. . .
143*/29. . . 3 2 R, 3, 3,
4: Mikko Hirvonen (FIN). . . 31.07.80. . . 2002. . .
64/2. . . --, 13, 8, --, 9
OMV KRONOS CITROEN WRT (MT)
5: Manfred Stohl (A). . . 7.07.72. . . 1991. . .
119/0. . . --, 18, 32, R, 5
6: Francois Duval (B). . . 18.11.80. . . 2001. . .
73/1. . . R, 7, 2, 2, W
SUBARU WRT (M)
7: Petter Solberg (N). . . 18.11.74. . . 1998. . .
117/13. . . R, 8, R, 7, R
8: Chris Atkinson (AUS). . . 30.11.79. . . 2004. . .
44/0. . . --, --, --, 11, 8
STOBART VK M-SPORT FORD RT (MT)
9: Jari-Matti Latvala (FIN). . . 3.04.85. . . 2002. . .
45/0. . . --, 17, 27, 21, 34
10: Henning Solberg (N). . . 8.01.73. . . 1998. . .
49/0. . . --, --, --, --, --
Key: M = Manufacturer, MT = Manufacturer's Team,
R = retired, E = excluded, W = withdrawn, -- = did
not enter, * = not including W2L-only events.
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This information, as well as high-resolution images
of rally routes and rally plate designs are available
from http://www.pirellicompetizioni.com/