Countdown to ADAC Rallye Deutschland

Rally Deutschland - preview

By Franck Drui

16 August 2010 - 10:36
Countdown to ADAC Rallye Deutschland

And so, we return to the city of the Black Gate. It sounds like something out of Lord of the Rings, doesn’t it?

Frodo Baggins’ quest for the ‘One Ring’ is, however, a mere stroll in the park compared with this year’s Rallye Deutschland. The Dark Lord Sauron would likely be a more sympathetic foe than Panzerplatte.

Rallye Deutschland is a rally of three parts, with competition through the Mosel vineyards, including some of the steepest hairpin bends around, the Saarland country lanes - as good as the lanes anywhere in the world, and finally in the Baumholder military testing ground. And this is where the going gets tough. This is where the drivers will find Panzerplatte.

And this year, Panzerplatte’s been working out, it’s even tougher than ever. It’s 18 kilometres longer than last time it was used. At a mighty 48 kilometres, it’s the season’s biggest stage. In short, it’s a monster. And that’s in the dry. If it turns wet, Panzerplatte is the stuff of nightmares. And the drivers have to do it twice next Saturday. Nice.

The surface in Arena Panzerplatte is always changing - and it changes again with every car that passes over it. It’s a hard road to read - and with 48,000 metres to get through, the co-drivers are going to have a lot of pace notes to read. The arena section of this stage is where the fans all congregate to see their heroes close up - and the atmosphere in the middle is just wonderful.

There’s no time for the drivers to take any of that in, though, they need to be 100 per cent focused. If they’re not, there’s a hinkelstein (the enormous slabs of stone used to keep tanks on the right track) waiting at the side of the road.

There’s plenty to keep the fans on their feet, too; this year’s Rallye Deutschland is the first of two rallies (Rallye de France being the second) that is a round of all three support series. That means, as well as the World Rally Car-driving superheroes at the front of the field, fans will see the cream of Juniors, Production and Super 2000 World Rally Championships.

And, they’ll also be treated to the return of Francois Duval. Eighteen months after his last World Rally Championship outing, the Belgian who has come closest to beating a supreme Sebastien Loeb in these parts will be back for another crack at the master. Which leads us nicely on to...

Who’s going to win?

Well, there’s 80 teams from 28 nations and more than 200,000 people coming to watch. But Rallye Deutschland really remains about one man: Sebastien Loeb. Actually, two men: Loeb and his co-driver Daniel Elena. Okay, two men and one car: Loeb, Elena and their C4 WRC. Okay, okay, two men, one car and their team: the Citroen Total World Rally Team. You get the point, though.

The last time Loeb didn’t win Germany’s round of the World Rally Championship was 2001 - because there wasn’t one. Get that, 2001! Remember 2001? It was the year the iPod was born; the Manic Street Street Preachers became the first western band to play in Cuba and it was also the year Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown wouldn’t get asked back to the Bel Air Hotel after it took staff five days to clean the room in the Hollywood hotel after they left. But, as far as we’re concerned, the biggest news was that Sebastien Loeb didn’t win in Germany.

In fact, he didn’t win last year, either - but that was also because the event didn’t happen. Will he win this year? Yes. Who can stop him? Er, nobody. Maybe he can stop himself by making a mistake or maybe the Citroen will miss a beat. Neither are particularly likely. This isn’t quite Loeb’s backyard (it’s the wrong country for a start), but it is his neighbour’s backyard. He knows the roads intimately and, more importantly, he knows how to second-guess the grip levels. If there’s a fine drizzle in the vineyards, he’s got it covered; if it’s lashing it down in Baumholder, he’s on it and if the sun’s shining in the lanes, he knows where to find the line.

With a 100 per cent record and seven wins from seven starts, this rally is all about Loeb and his bid to extend that dominance.

WRC

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