Rallye Breslau 2022 is now in the history. Europe’s biggest offroad race is over after 5 and a half racing days and more than thousand kilometers for the almost 270 racing vehicles, who started last Sunday in Zagan. And we know the new crowned winners of the competition.
Nachtwerk en een laatste etappe voor de definitieve uitslag. For dessert, Breslau’22 offered the famous Night stage (actually, second one this time) in the late Thursday evening and one last track, with more than 70 kilometers against the clock in Friday. And this final battle determined the champions in the different classes and categories.
Nederlands podiumplaatsje. Starting with the bikes, or Enduro class of Rallye Breslau 2022, it was well deserved victory for Nerimantas Jucius (#28, Husqvarna). The pilot from Lithuania managed more than 19 minutes advance at the end versus Matthew Grid (#5, KTM) from South Africa. Third place in the marathon claimed Eduard Hillebrand (#75, KTM) from Nederland.
Winnaars ATV klasse. In the ATV class, we saw double podium for our host-country Poland, as well as for the Polaris brand. Undoubted win for Rafal Jawien, who crossed the finish line 20 minutes (and one second) in front of the “silver medalist” Ireneusz Ostafin. Top 3 completed Adomas Gancierius from Latvia with CFMOTO quad.
Nederlandse zege in de SSV klasse! Moving to the SSV class, Michiel Becx (#105) with his “extraterrestrial” Arcane T3 managed to be the best driver in Rallye Breslau 2022. The Dutch pilot “escaped” the Lithuanian pressure with 8 minutes, leaving the Can Am pilots from the Baltic country Jonas Raudeliunas (#165) and Tomas Guzauskas (#102) on the second and third place.
Auto Cross-Country en Limited klasse. In the Car Cross-Country class, and more especially in the “open” group, Urvo Mannama (#218) was leading the rally from the very beginning and stayed as leader to the end. The Estonian pilot with his amazing Century desert bolide often was the fastest in the mixed rankings, and managed to make the comfortable 45 minutes against his main rival at the finish. This rival was Ronald Schoolderman (#219, Mitsubishi ASX), who claimed the second place with more than 20 minutes advance versus his fellow countryman Rik Van Den Brink (#201, Borgward). In the Cars Limited class, class, the winner of Rallye Breslau 2022 was Piotr Borys from Poland, behind the wheels of Mitsubishi Pajero (#255).
De Cross-Country klasse van de zware jongens. In the Truck Cross-Country class, after a big battle between two German pilots, it was Benjamin Kittler (#411, KAT 1A). The second place came for Tom Heurer and his famous Tatra (#403), and third on the podium was Aad Van Velsen with Scania (#404) from Nederland.
Extreme klasse. As for the Extreme category, the podium in the car class was fully occupied by French drivers. And it was a duel to the last meters, as Romain Porchere (#310, Construmental Proto) claimed the victory with only 2:20 minutes in front of Benoit Bonnefoy (#328, Mercedes). Well deserved “bronze medal” for Gillaume Boudoux and his Land Rover (#327). In the Limited cars group, the title went to Oliver Schwermann from Germany, also with Land Rover (#309).
Meer zware jongens en een Nederlandse winnaar. After the battle in the Small EX Trucks class, on top on the finish was Stefen Braun (#453, Unimog). The German made huge 5 hours advance versus Urmas Uffert from Estonia (#469, MOG Proto), and the Baltic driver was some 2 and a half hours in front of Alfred Wemhof (#468, Unimog, DEU). In the big truck EX class, the title was claimed by Henri Verhoeven from Nederland with Ginaf (#466), who made comfortable one-and-a-half-hour advance to Oliver Leyh from Germany (#457, MAN KAT). The podium was completed by another German driver – Silvio Menz, also with MAN KAT (#454).
Boven: Gillaume Boudoux, goed voor brons.
Een woordje van de organisator. At the end of the rally, the race director of Breslau Alex Kovatchev was tired, but happy. “It was a really big challenge to organize and manage the race. With the very complicated political, economic and with many other crisis situations in Europe, I think this was the most difficult rally to make in my whole long career. But I think we made it, and we made it very well, according to the highest standards of RBI International. And I saw, that the competitors were happy and that makes myself even happier”.
Boven: Een ’trosje’ vaderlanders…
Alle ogen gericht op…? After a small rest, all the eyes will be turned toward the next race of the so called “RBI Series”. If everything is going according to the plans, in the beginning of October will be the 10th edition of the famous Balkan Offroad Rally. This time, the race will happen in the beautiful Sibiu area of Romania. Let’s say, we’ll meet again!
Fotografie: Actiongraphers & Andrius Laucius. Tekst: Rallye Breslau.
