After seven consecutive loose surface events, the FIA World Rally Championship contenders now head to full asphalt for Rallye Deutschland, the ninth round of the series. It is considered one of the trickier rounds, largely due to the changing nature of the roads and unpredictable weather conditions.

On Tarmac rounds of the Championship, route note crews are permitted for drivers entered with a World Rally Car. These crews head out to the stages ahead of the competitors, checking the pace notes in relation to the actual road conditions and assessing the weather. For the drivers, working closely and effectively with the route note crew and the all-important weather team is vital to ensuring optimum tyre choices, especially when individual stage conditions could vary from dry to damp or full wet in one single loop of stages.

A strong field of FIA WRC 2 Championship contenders will be joining the WRC field in Germany. Esapekka Lappi, winner at Rally Finland, will be looking to capitalise, being that none of his nearest Championship rivals are registered for points at the Trier-based event. In the FIA Junior WRC Championship, Ole Christian Veiby has moved himself back into contention, having won the category in Finland. He does however need to continue his run of form to match the consistency of series leader Simone Tempestini.

THE 2016 ROUTE

The character of the stages change from day to day; Friday takes the contenders through the narrow bumpy lanes in the Mosel vineyards while Saturday’s route mixes smooth country roads with the notorious Baumholder military range that is awash with car-breaking kerbstones known as hinkelsteins. Sunday is again different, with stages run in the Mosel wine region and the foothills of the Eifel hills close to the Luxembourg border.

There are just two completely new stages this year. The Ollmuth super special stage on Friday night, close to Trier, and Freisen-Westrich on Saturday, which was last included in the itinerary back in 2010.

The Sauertal Power Stage on Sunday will be broadcast live.

RALLY DATA

MEDIA ACCREDITATION

The Accreditation Centre is located in the Messepark Trier, In den Moselauen 1, D-54294 Trier. The opening hours are:

RALLYE DEUTSCHLAND TIMETABLE AND MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISED BY THE FIA

FIA PRESS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE

MANUFACTURER ENTRIES, RALLYE DEUTSCHLAND

ADDITIONAL MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES 

‘Meet the Crews’: On Friday and Saturday the top three drivers will attend a ‘Meet the Crews’ session for media and fans. This will take place on the WRC Stage in the service park at the earliest opportunity during the 45' service.

Autograph Signing Session: On Friday and Saturday selected crews will be available for a 15 minute autograph session. This will take place in the service park during the end of day service at the teams’ service areas.

FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS

The provisional classifications for all the WRC Championships can be found on the following link:

http://www.fia.com/events/world-rally-championship/season-2016/standings

STAGE CHART

Shortly after the finish of the event, a downloadable stage chart showing the progressive positions of the leading crews during the rally will be available. This is copyright free for editorial purposes and available at the following link:

http://www.fia.com/events/world-rally-championship/season-2016/stage-chart-7