Following on Kris Meeke’s dominant win in Finland last time out, the WRC teams and crews now head to Germany for the 2016 Rallye Deutschland event.
Rallye Deutschland is no stranger to the World Rally Championship calendar as it was introduced in 2002, making this Round 9 of the 2016 WRC season. Citroën have won every edition of the rally until 2014 with Hyundai’s Thierry Neuville claiming victory that year.
Drivers and Co-drivers will be tested in Germany stages as they tackle all sorts of asphalt stages, as well as battling the unpredictable weather and rally-ending hinkelsteins in Baumholder.
Nine-times World Rally Champion Sébastien Loeb holds the record for the most wins at Rallye Deutschland with nine victories, with Loeb’s last victory in Germany in 2012 before he retired from the WRC in 2013.
Sébastien Ogier will be happy to forget Rally Finland after making a rare retirement from a WRC rally three weeks ago. The Frenchman will be looking forward to getting back on the asphalt of Rallye Deutschland as he won at this rally for the second time last year in the Polo R.
After his Rally Finland win, Citroën Racing’s Kris Meeke is one point behind DMACK’s Ott Tänak in ninth place. However, Ogier still leads the Drivers’ Standings by 45 points ahead of his Volkswagen team-mate Andreas Mikkelsen. While Jari-Matti Latvala is third, 11 points behind Mikkelsen in second after the Finn previously finished in his home rally, runner-up to Meeke in Finland.
Rallye Deutschland 2016 will see teams and crews covering 306,80 kilometres over 18 stages in just four days (18-21 August 2016). The rally will begin on Thursday and conclude in front of the Porta Nigra Roman gate in Trier on Sunday.
