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Germany offers extended tarmac challenge for World Rally Championship

World rally teams head to Germany this weekend for the second tarmac event of this year’s 13-round season with New Zealanders Hayden Paddon and John Kennard among the line-up.

ADAC Rallye Deutschland, round nine of the FIA World Rally Championship and running from 20 to 22 August, includes one particularly demanding 48 kilometre stage through Germany’s military training grounds among the widest variety of sealed surfaces to feature in any event this season.

Eighty teams of competitors from 28 different nations contest the event hosted in the city of Trier in far-western Germany, tackling 405.67 kilometres of bumpy concrete and narrow tarmac stages.

The Citroen Total World Rally Team pairing of Sébastien Loeb and co-driver Daniel Elena has won Rally Deutschland every year from 2001 to 2008 when the event last ran. Loeb currently enjoys a 48 point lead in the drivers’ standings after the last round in Finland and aims to continue adding to his current total of 166 points as the Frenchman reaches for his seventh consecutive championship title.

“My aim in Germany is obviously an eighth victory,” says Loeb who will be racing only a few dozen kilometres away from his native Alsace, near the border with Germany. “But three other good drivers also have Citroen C4 WRCs, the best car of the moment. That means that I’m going to have to pull out all the stops to stay in front of them.

“It’s an interesting challenge as the three legs are all different,” continues Loeb. “The stages among the Mosel vines have nothing in common with those in the Baumholder military camp. As is often the case, the weather can play a very important role in the outcome of the event, so it looks like it‘s going to be an exciting and unpredictable race.”

Citroën’s archrivals, the BP Ford Abu Dhabi World Rally Team, are statistically on the back foot against Loeb, but the Ford crews can draw inspiration from their recent win in Finland when Jari-Matti Latvala and his co-driver Miikka Anttila secured their second WRC victory this season. Latvala and Anttila start the German event for the sixth time.

“Germany's stages have many cuts and so the roads are dirty giving me a lack of confidence when the grip level is changing so regularly,” says the 25-year-old Finnish driver. “That’s why this has always been a difficult event for me. Previously I have set some good times on the Baumholder sections because you can't cut the corners and I prefer the wide, fast roads in this military area. The weather can be changeable and you have to adapt very quickly to the conditions.”

Former Formula One champion Kimi Raikkonen pilots his Citroen C4 WRC over the German roads for the first time and, despite his previous dominance on asphalt, the unpredictable conditions are not rookie friendly.

American super-stuntman Ken Block and co-driver Alex Gelsomino also face the same rookie challenges as Raikkonen. Block will run alongside Ford’s tarmac specialist François Duval and co-driver Denis Giraudet who have a one-off event in the Ford Focus RS WRC.

Other rookies tackling the German event for the first time include the five Pirelli Star Drivers. The Kiwi pairing of Hayden Paddon and John Kennard acknolwedge their lack of tarmac experience and expect to take a more conservative approach.

“I’ve heard a lot about the changes of surface and things like that,” says the 23-year-old from Geraldine. “But my expectation for that rally is not going to be very high. I haven’t done an awful lot of asphalt rallying at all, so this is going to be a big learning experience for me. The only tarmac event I’ve done was a Targa event back home in New Zealand last year. That was a blind rally, so I didn’t get much of a feel with [pace] notes. What that rally did show me, though, was the big difference in the style of driving between gravel and asphalt. On asphalt you’ve got to be really smooth, almost looking to go slowly to go quickly; you brake much earlier and then take it steady through the corner and get on the power.

“Germany, from what I’m told, is different styles of roads – some of which are quite loose,” continues Paddon. “Another unknown will be how much gravel is going to be pulled out of the corners from the guys running ahead.

“Obviously, this is another Production round and, while I’ve never done this event before, we have to be looking to take points. I’m really looking forward to Germany; any day behind the wheel of a rally car is a great day!”

Joining the field, competitors in the Production, Super 2000 and Junior World Rally Championship (PWRC, SWRC and JWRC) swell the field for one of only two events on the calendar where all categories will be present.
The PWRC standings are headed by defending PWRC champion Armindo Araujo from Portugal, who has 58 points, eight ahead of second-placed Patrik Flodin from Russia. On 40 points in third place, Paddon holds a ten point advantage over former champion Toshi Arai of Japan.

Spanish driver Xevi Pons continues to lead the SWRC championship by 18 points from PG Andersson with three rounds left. Ford Fiesta S2000 driver Martin Prokop currently holds third position with Jari Ketomaa just two points behind, in fourth position. After missing the previous round in Finland, Pons rejoins the championship in Germany. This is the sixth time that Pons has contested Rallye Deutschland and in 2005’s event he finished ninth overall.

With all competitors required to use Pirelli’s PZero asphalt control tyre, they have the choice of either hard compound or soft compound to suit the conditions although numbers are restricted.

The event gets underway with Thursday evening's start ceremony at Trier's historic Porta Nigra, a UNESCO World Heritage site, then Friday’s stages pass through the bumpy and narrow roads of the Mosel vineyard region. The route heads further south on Saturday with stages averaging 15 kilometres heading over the Saarland region’s roads before the mammoth 48 kilometre Arena Panzerplatte stage – with its infamous abrasive concrete surface and hinkelstein kerb stones – marking the return to Trier for service. After completing a repeated loop of these stages in the afternoon, successful teams clock up nearly 196 kilometres of competition for the day. Sunday’s route takes in a short 85.69 kilometre group of five stages over smoother roads near the Mosel, concluding with a 4.37 kilometre dash around the Circus Maximus Trier super special stage in the early afternoon before the ceremonial finish. The focus then moves to the finish podium for the first round of awards starting at 3:45pm.

FIA World Rally Championship for Drivers (after 8 of 13 rounds)
1, Sébastien Loeb, 166pts
2, Sébastien Ogier, 118pts
3, Jari-Matti Latvala, 105pts
4, Petter Solberg, 90pts
5, Mikko Hirvonen, 86pts
6, Dani Sordo, 77pts

FIA World Rally Championship for Manufacturers (after 8 of 13 rounds)
1, Citroen Total, 265pts
2, BP Ford Abu Dhabi, 210pts
3, Citroen Junior, 155pts
4, Stobart M-Sport Ford, 108pts
5, Munchi's Ford, 40pts