The 35th edition of Rallye Deutschland returns to the Saarland and the HQ and service park in Bostalsee replace historic Trier as the base for the rally. The event is considered to be the trickiest asphalt encounter on the calendar and, despite moving its base, will continue to have the same challenging mix of stages with very different characteristics. 

After the Saarbrücken city centre stage on Thursday night, Friday heads into the vineyards around the Mosel River where narrow roads and endless hairpin bends await. A new super special stage has also been added, affording spectators day-long action as it runs three times. In contrast, Saturday is about the Baumholder military ranges and its daunting concrete roads lined with car-breaking kerbstones known as hinkelsteins. Sunday is again different and takes the contenders onto faster country roads in the Saarland region. The weather also plays a significant role and working with route note and weather crews is vital to ensure optimum tyre choices, especially when individual stage conditions can vary from dry to damp or full wet in one single loop of stages.

With nine of the Championship’s 13 rounds run and six different crews standing on the top step of the podium, predicting a winner remains impossible.  Thierry Neuville and reigning FIA World Rally Champion Sébastien Ogier go into the event tied on points at the head of the standings, although Neuville will lead the field on the first day having secured three wins to Ogier’s two during the season. Rallye Deutschland is also a mandatory scoring event in the FIA WRC 2 Championship and runaway points-scorer Pontus Tidemand will be looking for another top result to secure an unassailable lead. The youngsters in the FIA Junior WRC Championship are also back in action, this being the penultimate round of their six-event season.

Three stages will be broadcast live; the opening street stage on Thursday evening, Saturday’s SS12 and the closing Power Stage on Sunday.

ROUTE GRAPHICS

THE 2017 ROUTE

This year’s route has some familiarity, but no fewer than five of the 10 different stages are new, including both super special stages on Thursday and Friday, Saturday’s Römerstraße stage and the whole of Sunday’s route. The remaining stages are the same as last year, with the exception of SS4/7 (Grafschaft) which has not run since 2015. 

The event kicks off in Saarbrücken, south of the new Bostalsee service park, in front of the State Theatre on Thursday evening. After three days of competition, the crews will finish the closing Power Stage on the outskirts of the Bostalsee service park where the winners will immediately be crowned champions live on television. 

WHAT WE SAID…

“Rallye Deutschland is always unpredictable and could deliver another surprise,” said Jarmo Mahonen, FIA Rally Director. “The variety of stages and changeable weather present a big challenge, plus we haven’t been on Tarmac since Corsica in April and the nature of those roads is very different. All the crews have shown real pace so far this season, and I still feel there is another winner out there who has yet to stand on the top step of the podium.”

RALLY DATA

MEDIA ACCREDITATION

The Accreditation Centre is located at Victor’s Seehotel Weingärtner, Bostalstraße 12, D-66625 Nohfelden-Bosen. 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 

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-2017/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-2017/stage-chart-21