WRC - Rally Deutschland - Preview
The FIA World Rally Championship resumes with round ten of the 2019 season.
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Round 10 of the 2019 FIA World Rally Championship takes the crews back onto tarmac for Rallye Deutschland (22-25 August), an event known for its demanding roads and often changeable weather conditions.
First run in 1982, it was part of the FIA European Rally Championship before becoming Germany’s round of the WRC in 2002. Although the rally base moved from Trier to Bostalsee two years ago, it has remained faithful to a popular formula combining twisty vineyard roads above the Mosel river, the varied and sometimes broken surfaces of the Baumholder military ground, and fast country lanes of the Saarland region.
Winner of the last two editions, Ott Tänak could target a hat trick to further increase his championship lead, which grew to 22 points after the triumph of the Toyota driver on the last round in Finland. His rivals Sébastien Ogier (Citroën) and Thierry Neuville (Hyundai) – who are separated by just three points – are also both former winners of the event, opening up the prospect of a thrilling, flat-out battle between the trio.
With Elfyn Evans continuing to recover from a back injury, Gus Greensmith gets another top-level start with M-Sport. After skipping Finland, Rally Sardinia’s winner Dani Sordo returns to the Hyundai line-up alongside Neuville and Andreas Mikkelsen. Meanwhile, Toyota offers its Japanese protégé Takamoto Katsuta his first WRC outing in a Yaris - entered by Tommi Mäkinen Racing - after several impressive demonstrations in FIA WRC 2.
FIA WRC 2 Pro leader Kalle Rovanperä has four consecutive class wins under his belt but the Finn will face stiff competition in Germany, from his Škoda team-mate and asphalt expert Jan Kopecký, as well as Citroën’s Mads Østberg and Eric Camilli, competing in M-Sport’s latest Ford Fiesta R5.
Fresh from his maiden win in Finland, Russia’s Nikolay Gryazin heads a strong 15-car entry in the FIA WRC 2, which includes the French trio Adrien Fourmaux, Nicolas Ciamin and Stéphane Lefebvre, and the German pair Marijan Griebel and Fabian Kreim.
THE 2019 ROUTE
This year’s Rallye Deutschland begins with a new twist, as the 5.2 kilometre “St. Wendeler Land” Shakedown is then run again on Thursday evening as the first competitive stage. Friday’s loop consists of a pair of vineyard stages, plus the Wadern-Weikirchen circuit test, with all three run twice. Saturday’s format offers two Saarland country lane stages to be run twice in the morning, ahead of two loops around Baumholder in the afternoon. On Sunday, the rally returns to the vineyards for another pair of repeated stages to conclude the event.
RALLY DATA
Total distance: | 1'228.23 km |
Stage distance: | 344.04 km (28%) |
Number of stages: | 19 |
MEDIA ACCREDITATION
The Accreditation Centre is located in the Media Center in the Bostalsee Service Park (Am Seehafen, D-66625 Nohfelden-Bosen).
The opening hours are:
Tuesday 20 August | 14:00 – 18:00 hrs |
Wednesday 21 August | 08:00 – 21:00 hrs |
Thursday 22 August | 08:00 – 18:00 hrs |
Friday 23 August | 08:00 – 14:00 hrs |
2019 RALLYE DEUTSCHLAND TIMETABLE & MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES ORGANISED BY THE FIA
Wednesday 21 August | |
Mandatory media safety briefing, Photographers’ Room, Media Center | 17:00 hrs |
Thursday 22 August | |
Mandatory shakedown for P1 & P2P, St Wendeler Land | 10:00 - 11:30 hrs |
Shakedown for all Priority drivers (P1, P2P, P2, R-GT), St Wendeler Land | 11:30 - 13:30 hrs |
Shakedown (others), St Wendeler Land | 13:30 - 15:30 hrs |
‘Meet the Crews’ Top 3 Shakedown, WRC stage, Bostalsee Service Park | 14:00 hrs |
FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Media Center, Bostalsee SP | 14:30 hrs |
Rally opening ceremony, Bostalsee SP | 18:00 – 18:30 hrs |
including autograph signing session for P1 & P2P crews | |
Start of the rally (section 1), Bostalsee Service SP | 18:45 hrs |
Friday 23 August | |
Start of Section 2, Bostalsee SP | 09:00 hrs |
First car arrives for regroup, media zone & service, Bostalsee SP | 13:33 hrs |
First car arrives for regroup, media zone & final service, Bostalsee SP | 19:01 hrs |
‘Meet the Crews’ post-Leg 1, WRC stage, Bostalsee SP | During the 48’ service |
Saturday 24 August | |
Start of Section 4, Bostalsee SP | 07:15 hrs |
Regroup, St Wendel | 09:59 hrs |
First car arrives for regroup, media zone & service, Bostalsee SP | 13:16 hrs |
First car arrives for media zone, regroup & final service, Bostalsee SP | 17:11 hrs |
‘Meet the Crews’ post-Leg 2, WRC stage, Bostalsee SP | During the 48’ service |
Sunday 25 August | |
Start of Section 8, Bostalsee SP | 06:20 hrs |
Regroup, Morbach | 08:41 hrs |
Regroup, Morbach | 11:05 hrs |
Rally finish, Bostalsee SP | 13:33 hrs |
Podium Ceremony & Price Giving, Bostalsee SP | approx. 14:00 hrs |
FIA Press Conference, Press Room, Media Center, Bostalsee SP | 14:45 hrs |
FIA PRESS CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE
Thursday 22 August | FIA WRC |
Ott Tänak (EST), Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | |
Sébastien Ogier (FRA), Citroën Total WRT | |
Thierry Neuville (BEL), Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | |
Gus Greensmith (GBR), M-Sport Ford WRT | |
Takamoto Katsuta (JAP), Tommi Mäkinen Racing | |
FIA WRC 2 PRO | |
Jan Kopecký (CZE), Škoda Motorsport | |
Mads Østberg (NOR), Citroën Total | |
FIA WRC 2 | |
Kajetan Kajetanowicz (POL) | |
Marijan Griebel (DEU) | |
Sunday 25 August | Winning FIA WRC 2 Pro Championship crew |
Winning FIA WRC 2 Championship crew | |
Top three crews in the overall classification | |
Representative of the winning manufacturer |
2019 RALLYE DEUTSCHLAND, MANUFACTURER ENTRIES
Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT | Thierry Neuville / Nicolas Gilsoul (#11) |
Andreas Mikkelsen / Anders Jaeger-Amland (#89) | |
Dani Sordo / Carlos Del Barrio (#6) | |
Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT | Ott Tänak / Martin Järveoja (#8) |
Kris Meeke / Sebastian Marshall (#5) | |
Jari-Matti Latvala / Miikka Anttila (#10) | |
Citroën Total WRT | Sébastien Ogier / Julien Ingrassia (#1) |
Esapekka Lappi / Janne Ferm (#4) | |
M-Sport Ford WRT | Teemu Suninen / Jarmo Lehtinen (#3) |
Gus Greensmith / Elliott Edmondson (#33) |
FIA WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP CLASSIFICATIONS
The provisional classifications for all the WRC Championships is available on the following link:
https://www.fia.com/events/world-rally-championship/season-2019/standings