That was a tactical tour de force. After a very strong finish, the current DRM champion Marijan Griebel won the ADAC Rallye Stemweder Berg with his co-driver Tobias Braun and thus celebrated his first win of the season.
The 33-year-old was within striking distance behind the leading duo until just before the end and then struck ice cold. In the penultimate special stage, Griebel in the Citroen C3 Rally2 took the lead for the first time, which he defended with a narrow victory in the last section of the route. “The car ran really well and I always believed in victory. However, during the competition this morning, the nut from the hood holder got lost, the hood came up and I could hardly see anything. But the last two special stages were fantastic and I was still able to catch my opponents. The next two rallies are practically home games for me. I live nearby and want to be successful again in front of my home crowd,” said the last-minute winner after his success.
Christian Riedemann finished second, 4.6 seconds behind, and showed a very strong performance in his season debut in the German Rally Championship with his new co-driver Nico Otterbach in the new Hyundai i20 N Rally2. “For me, second place feels like a win. I didn’t take part in the first two rallies and entered my first DRM campaign with a new co-driver and a new car. It was almost perfect for that. My opponents have a lot more competitive experience, but I was able to keep up very well and had chances of winning until just before the end. My goal was a podium finish, but the fact that it was so close is all the better,” explained Riedemann after his successful season debut.
Championship leader Philip Geipel, on the other hand, and his co-driver Katrin Becker-Brugger in the Skoda Fabia Rally2 Evo, suffered their first defeat of the season in the German Rally Championship after two successes. “The level is extremely high, small mistakes are punished immediately. We made the wrong tire choice once and lost a lot of time as a result. But we are very satisfied with third place, because the German rally leaders drive here,” says Philip Geipel, the defended its lead in the top class. The combination of Julius Tannert and Frank Christian in the VW Polo GTI R5 didn’t stand a chance against this strong trio this weekend and finished fourth in the final standings. Behind them, Björn Satorius and Hanna Ostlender finished the ADAC Rallye Stemweder Berg in fifth place in the cockpit of the Ford Fiesta Rally2.
In the DRM2 class, too, the outcome was open up to the last second. The duo Martin Christ and Heinke Möhrpahl finally prevailed in the final special stage with the Opel Corsa Rally4. “At the start today, the car stalled, we spun on the circuit in the first run and lost a total of 20 seconds. We were able to catch up very well at the back and not bring in a win that was no longer possible. That will now be celebrated,” promised Martin Christ. Second-placed Raffael Sulzinger and co-driver Lisa Kiefer (Ford Fiesta Rally4) were happy with their result despite the close race. Raffael Sulzinger: “I didn’t look at the time of the penultimate stage because I didn’t want to drive myself crazy. Unfortunately, that didn’t help, but overall we’re very satisfied.” Third place went to the combination of René Noller and Anne Katharina Stein in the Opel Corsa Rally4.
In the Gentlemen Trophy, the combination of Dennis Rostek and Michael Wenzel in the Skoda FabiaR5 kept its clean sheet and is still unbeaten after the third win in a row. Still, it was hard work for the successful duo. “Mentally, it was one of the toughest rallies I’ve ever driven. We had a lot of problems, two punctures, and in the end our clutch collapsed. And then there were the many people from home who expected us to win. I’m really happy that we’ve crossed the finish line and that we’re on top of the podium for the third time,” said Dennis Rostek, clearly relieved. The DRM Classic was won by Walter Gromöller and Philipp Musholt in the Opel Ascona 400. The short comment afterwards: “We had no problems at all on Saturday and everything went by itself.”
Max Reiter and his co-driver Lina Meter won the ADAC Opel e-Rally Cup, which celebrated its world premiere a year ago at the ADAC Rallye Stemweder Berg.
The highlights of the German Rally Championship can be seen exclusively on n-tv on free-to-air television. 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.
