What a final the Saarland Pfalz Rallye provided! Despite heavy rain during the last stages Fabian Kreim brings home victory.
Leading the field of 65 competitors Fabian Kreim is expected to show his dominance in the first run of the German Rallye Championship (DRM) piloting his Skoda Fabia R5. Runner-up Christian Riedemann in a Peugeot 208 T16 by Romo is eager to take part in the battle for the championship again. Besides the two of them many more like Sandro Wallenwein, René Mandel, Chris Brugger and Dominik Dinkel will give their best to make it an interesting event.
Kreim places himself at the top spot immediately at the end of the first stage and dominates from then on. He is closely followed by Ford Fiesta R5 driver René Mandel who was coached by Armin Schwarz and Dinkel in a Skoda Fabia R5. After the first leg on the second day of the rallye Riedemann managed to climb up to second place after some flawless stages. But then a downpour destroyed Dinkel’s hopes of a podium finish. This was due to the fact that he mounted slick tires in the morning which led to this drama.
Most notable driver of the Saarland Pfalz Rallye was none of the R5 pilots but a much younger and more undermotorized talent called Jari Huttunen. The Finn managed to achieve a tenth place overall in his Opel Adam R2 which made for surprised faces of those who have not heard of him yet. But this once again only showed his top results from last season’s victories in the ADAC Opel Rallye Cup.
Final overall results:
| 1. | Kreim Fabian – Christian Frank | Škoda Fabia R5 | DIV1 RC2 |
1:17:35.9 | |
| 2. | Riedemann Christian – Wenzel Michael | Peugeot 208 T16 | DIV1 RC2 |
1:17:51.6 | +15.7 +15.7 |
| 3. | Mandel René – Zenz Dennis | Ford Fiesta R5 | DIV1 RC2 |
1:18:20.1 | +44.2 +28.5 |
| 4. | Wallenwein Sandro – Poschner Markus | Škoda Fabia R5 | DIV1 RC2 |
1:18:21.2 | +45.3 +1.1 |
| 5. | Dinkel Dominik – Kohl Christina | Škoda Fabia R5 | DIV1 RC2 |
1:18:22.8 | +46.9 +1.6 |
| 6. | von Thurn und Taxis Albert – Degandt Bjorn | Škoda Fabia R5 | DIV1 RC2 |
1:20:24.9 | +2:49.0 +2:02.1 |
| 7. | Brugger Christoph – Wicha Klaus | Ford Fiesta R5 | DIV1 RC2 |
1:20:25.4 | +2:49.5 +0.5 |
| 8. | Lim Chewon – Wydaeghe Martijn | Hyundai i20 R5 | DIV1 RC2 |
1:22:26.7 | +4:50.8 +2:01.3 |
| 9. | Knof Philipp – Rath Alexander | Peugeot 207 S2000 | DIV1 RC2 |
1:22:27.2 | +4:51.3 +0.5 |
| 10. | Huttunen Jari – Linnaketo Antti | Opel Adam R2 | DIV5 RC4 |
1:22:52.5 | +5:16.6 +25.3 |
