Rally thriller in Lower Bavaria. After a fantastic race to catch up, Philip Geipel and Katrin Becker-Brugger not only won the DRM classification at the 58th ADAC Knaus Tabbert 3-City Rally. The dynamic duo became German Rally Champion for the first time thanks to this victory, which was no longer thought possible.
After the start on Friday at the last DRM tour stop, the crew of the Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo was more than half a minute behind the leaders. But in the rain on Saturday, Philip Geipel and Katrin Becker-Brugger achieved one best time after the other and won five of the eight daily stages.
With victory in the final special stage, they took the lead and after almost 170 kilometers through the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria they were in front with a minimal lead of 0.5 seconds. This last-minute success also meant the championship with a one-point lead over Marijan Griebel, who only finished fourth in Lower Bavaria. Philip Geipel: "I'm at a loss for words. It started badly, I braked in the woods and we were 30 seconds behind. In the rain, on the other hand, everything worked out today. We were at the limit, I gave 110 percent, Katrin did everything exactly announced. It was an amazing year and a great final rally. The fact that so many spectators came despite the bad weather is unique." Katrin Becker-Brugger: "I can't believe it. We won the DRM classification by 0.5 seconds and became German champions with a one-point lead. As always, I didn't reveal the intermediate result to Philip, but I did in the last two Exams totally pushed. Still, I can't believe it."
The dethroned German Rally Champion Marijan Griebel took his fate sportingly. Together with his co-driver Tobias Braun, the 33-year-old was in front after Friday's first stage. But the rain shattered all championship dreams on Saturday. The driver duo in the Citroën C3 Rally2 was unable to keep up with the pace at the front and eventually fell back to fourth place. “In this rain it was dangerous at times on the track. The car drove at 180 km/h in the forest where it wasn't supposed to go. It just wasn't worth the risk to me, but I still had the great opportunity to become champion. But it turned out the way it shouldn't have. Philip was in front and I was only fourth. But he also drove perfectly and it was his masterpiece that he did today. Ten years ago my world would have collapsed after such an unfortunate result. In the meantime I've won a lot, so you can sometimes lose a little bit. That's why I congratulate Philip and Katrin on the championship", Marijan Griebel proved to be a champion even in the defeat.
In this dramaturgy, the performance of the other two German top drivers in the top class almost went unnoticed. Dominik Dinkel and Pirmin Winklhofer finished second in the Ford Fiesta Rally2, putting in a very strong competition and only narrowly missing out on their first win of the season. "I slept through the first stages in the Czech Republic on Friday and wasted my time there. Today we had a lot of aquaplaning. You had to decide whether full risk was the right thing to do. I didn't have a chance in the championship not to lose anything to Philip You noticed that," explained Dominik Dinkel. Julius Tannert, who finished third and tied for the championship, had also opted for caution. "The stages on Friday were demanding and a lot of fun. On Saturday we had a lot of standing water, poor visibility and fogged up windows, everything you don't need. It was a battle against the elements and it was damn tough," he said Tannert.
The championship title in the DRM2 category was already awarded before the last stage of the season, but the fight for the podium at the 58th ADAC Knaus Tabbert 3-Städte-Rallye continued until the end. After the first day, guest starter Christian Riedemann and co-driver Jennifer Lerch led the field in the Opel Corsa Rally4. But local hero Raffael Sulzinger and co-driver Lisa Kiefer (Ford Fiesta Rally4) turned up the heat on Saturday in the rain, won the class and thus moved up to third place in the championship. “It's nice to drive in front of your own people and to be able to sleep in your own bed. We initially had a technical error in our mobile app, which we use to make the notes. That was terrible because we had written a lot of corners too fast for the first day. We didn't sleep that night, but corrected everything onboard. That was worth it. Nevertheless, the season as a whole was a bit frustrating because we actually want to fight for the championship. We'll attack again next year," said the Bavarian combatively.
Second place in the DRM2 championship behind the title holder Martin Christ went to the combination of René Noller and Stefan Kopczyk. However, the duo had a departure shortly before the end and could not finish the 58th ADAC Knaus Tabbert 3-Städte-Rallye, but because of the more victories achieved, they finished second ahead of Sulzinger, who had the same number of points. Jonas Ertz and Maresa Lade (Opel Corsa Rally4) were happy about fourth place and the same position in the championship. "It was a great track with many different characteristics and a healthy mix of everything. There were the fast Czech stages, sometimes in the dark, today we went through the forest in the rain, where quite a bit of dirt smeared on the track. We have to Luckily I made the right tire choice and when it works, you're relaxed," explained Maresa Lade.
Walter Gromöller and René Meier in the Opel Ascona 400 won the DRM Classic. Andreas Dahms and Paul Schubert in the Porsche 911 took second place, but they were already the winners of the classification.
The Czech-Hungarian duo Erik Cais and Igor Bacigá were the clear overall winners of the 58th ADAC Knaus Tabbert 3-City Rally. The driver crew of the Ford Fiesta R5 left no doubts about the outcome of the competition from the start and dominated the competition. The Austrians Simon Wagner and Gerald Winter also showed their class in the Škoda Fabia Rally2 Evo and were in second place for a long time before an accident on the tenth special stage stopped them. However, the German starters proved in all classes that they can definitely keep up in the internationally strong field. The clear winners were the spectators, who were able to experience high-class rallying in the most varied of conditions in the Czech Republic, Austria and Germany. Numerous visitors found their way to the well-signposted spectator points and gave the 58th ADAC Knaus Tabbert 3-City-Rallye an atmospheric setting as the end of a top-class sporting and exciting season in the German Rally Championship.
The highlights of the German Rally Championship can be seen exclusively on free-to-air television on n-tv. Every weekend after the racing events, the news channel broadcasts the 30-minute DRM magazine "PS - DRM Deutsche Rallye-Meisterschaft" on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. Alternatively, the magazine can be accessed free of charge at any time in the n-tv media center or the RTL streaming platform.
58th ADAC Knaus Tabbert 3-City-RallyeSaturday, 22.10.22 12:10 p.m.Sunday, 23.10.22 06:30 a.m. (reh.)
