Magical forest tracks, high speed sand and beautiful hills – the competitors of the Rallye Breslau Poland see the region of Miastko in all its glory, racing on two very different stages today around Dretyn and Bobolice. Going from a classic forest to a modern day wood production area the speed went up to new records for the Rallye Breslau Poland. Every day the challenges for the competitors are bigger, every day the bar for a good result rises and with two more days to come anything can still happen!
“The first stage was not for us,” says Herman Jasper, one of the front runners in the Car Cross Country category. “The route was beautiful, but you hardly notice it when you are losing time searching for the right track!” A good roadbook is not easy, and even though Evert Blaauw has perfected his navigation skills it is still a big challenge to find the route at speed. “Still, we did not loose too much time, we’ll see what happens tomorrow!”
Two stages with a completely different feeling, rhythm and atmosphere, but still so close to each other. Dretyn was a classic technical stage, with a lot of challenges for the pilot and copilot with both the driving and the navigation. Moving to Bobolice, the competitors enter a new production forest with deep yellow sand, pine trees and fantastic views over the hills. Long straights, sharp corners and no room for error!
Racing a classic ‘Dessoude’ Nissan Patrol with a petrol 6 cylinder engine, Jean Christophe Moine had a fantastic day. “The car is a true classic, it runs perfectly on these stages, it is nice and fast with a long wheelbase. Still, there is a maximum to what the suspension can take. Sometimes we see those little buggies fly over difficult terrain like it is not there, and we feel every bump!”
After a broken Side by side blocked the stage, the Cars and SSV’s in Cross Country continued to the finish line together, overflowing the finish area and the timing crew, who are currently working on a practical solution for the finish times in this class. “With our timing system we can see who stopped and how much time they lost, so I expect we will have the results ready at the usual time tonight,” says ‘the master of timing’, Andreas Pflug.
Pieter Koot of the ‘Van Groningen’-team has a good day, finishing as second in the Truck Cross Country ranking, behind Tom Heuer. They are here to learn, and to discover more about his truck and his skills. Teamboss William van Groningen earlier this week: “We are only beginners, so we need to find out how it works to race a truck. It is fantastic to do, but we have already discovered this is a sport that you should not underestimate!”
Racing without a turbo and with a small camper unit fitted to the plateau, the truck of Remmer Deharde is near standard and a bit overweight. “I am not so fast,” Remmer grins, “But it is really nice to drive here. I am in Truck Extreme class and look forward to Drawsko Pomorski, where we will probably see more of the Extreme sections. I still have to be careful as after the race I will clean it and drive it home myself!”
“Before I entered the Breslau Discovery I had not even seen a roadbook!” says Joerg Waitelonis, who drives his Land Rover in the all new Discovery class which follows the original Breslau tracks. “But it turns out to be a nice game and a lot of fun!” Anja Hertwig agrees with him. “Julia Schneider and I drive the ‘Discovery’ class with my daily driver, a Nissan Patrol. My husband is racing here in the Extreme Class. I don’t like to sit in the camp and wait for him, so we do something cool during the day!”
With a shorter and more intense program we see higher speeds and stronger competition than ever before at the Rallye Breslau Poland. After three days of racing the teams have their last chance to repair and prepare for the final stages. Tomorrow morning the rally moves to Drawsko Pomorski, to the famous Polygon and the decisionmaker of the 25th edition of the Rallye Breslau Poland!
