The travelogue of a participant
The rally began on Thursday evening with the night prologue in the Andratx/Calvia region. 100 starters in all classes did their best to master the darkness and find the road. The flashes of camera lights in the serpentines led to a wonderful blind flight in one or two corners, which Walter Röhrl is used to – but I am not! Germans were, as always, strongly represented and mostly in Porsche 911s. Untrained drivers met semi-professionals who had already been driving some special stages for a week. But the traditional conflict with the cyclists was limited. Driving took place in four „divisions”:
a) Pre-cars in Freestyle Old and New
b) Regularity Media Alta (means high average)
c) Low Average Speed Regularity (meaning average like the Kitzbühel Rally)
d) Competition
All in all, a mix that spectators without a program may have found just as exciting as it was irritating. Because apart from category c), all the others blasted through the special stages so fast that the partially new asphalt practically melted again. Explanation: Anyone in category b) who didn't start with spinning wheels had no chance at the title of „Fastest Regularity Driver in Europe.“ Which is simply only possible in Spain; the prescribed average speeds of up to 90 km/h are so high that even some competition cars wouldn't have managed them. After all, who maintains a 74 km/h average on a stretch with numerous hairpin bends? As a result, spectators almost always saw rally cars whistling through the curves and the co-drivers having just as many beads of sweat on their foreheads as the crank-turners themselves. In contrast, category c) could wave a bit more, which certainly confused spectators without background knowledge. But those exist too: friendly rally drivers.
The previous year's winners, Nadal Galiana / Bartomeu Fluxia, did not let victory in the competition slip away. The drifts that they have practiced for many years on the island with the FORD Escort MKII can also be admired on YouTube; but watch out that you don't choke on your popcorn. Dominik an der Heiden / Gerd Ottenburger worthily represented the Porsche elite in the 911 RSR, taking second place ahead of the still enormously fast Michael Eschmann together with Fred Tiebe, also in a Porsche 911 RSR.
Naturally, the rally was not continued on the last day following the accident of the local team Carlos Iscar / José Lumbreras in a 1984 Renault 5 Turbo. We mourn José, who as co-driver did not survive the impact into a tree and the subsequent wall of fire. What gives cause for thought is not an accident, which thankfully occurs only rarely, but the technical basis of the vehicle, which became infamously known for fire accidents back in the 1980s. In any case, there was no raucous victory party after the prizegiving – everyone's thoughts were with José Lumbreras, whose first rally as a co-driver ended so tragically.
