The ADAC Rallye Mittelrhein is unknown territory for us, but it does have super nice stages between the vineyards along the Moselle.
It started with fairly stressful reconnaissances on Friday. Each team was given exactly 7 hours to explore the 5 special stages. Here we choked. 1 passage to write down and another over it to check and add the denominations and such. That was really all there was to it, partly due to the fairly long connections. We also noticed that our writing passage was not flawless because during the control run we had to adjust many notes and we really needed a 3rd loop to check everything. Unfortunately, this was not an option, so we had to start with far from perfect notes.
Photos: Wim Becker
Despite the fact that we were aware that it was not going to be the easiest rally, they had already put our feet on the ground after FP1. Lots of blind tops and very narrow fans that followed each other in rapid succession. Add to that few landmarks and you have the ideal cocktail to choke on regularly.
The first loop of 3 stages was mainly survival and apart from a few hiccups because of our not perfect notes we were quite satisfied. In the meantime it is gradually becoming clear that we like the Toyota much more than anything and even though the vineyard tests are very tough and difficult, it is and remains super fun and we learn a lot.
It was high time for a check-up in the dusty service park. It’s starting to get boring, but the GT86 also felt very much at home in its German home and apart from some cleaning and quenching its thirst, nothing had to be done.
In the meantime, we knew a bit about what to expect for loop 2 and that has certainly had positive consequences. It went a lot better and little by little we gained confidence. With the usual small mistakes, some hesitations, but overall a very good feeling, we made it to Saturday evening unscathed.
The next day we still had a good half day of rally ahead of us, but the stages were a lot easier. The only spoilsport for the Sunday part was the rain. No deluge, but the occasional shower regularly makes the road surface a bit smoother. We just tried to keep a tight pace without doing anything crazy and didn’t let ourselves get caught anymore. So again only happy faces on Sunday afternoon.
For us, this was the most challenging rally we have driven so far. Especially the Saturday trials between the vineyards were particularly tough. Fast, narrow and hilly roads with little overview and even fewer landmarks. Despite the many small mistakes, we still look back with great satisfaction. It was a fantastic rally: we had a lot of fun and learned a lot.
The only one that remained faultless was the R-Box Toyota GT86 CS-R3. The car once again ran like Swiss clockwork and felt more than at home among the vines. What a super nice car! Furthermore, all kudos to our fantastic team!