Getting Sideways at the Eifel Rallye Festival

The 2016 Eifel Rallye Festival was staged in the Eifel Mountains of Western Germany. The 3-day rally was held over eight special stages in and around the town of Daun, turning the volcanic Eifel region into the center of historic rally racing. With more than 60 Group B and Group S cars lining up, the demonstration event was the biggest collection of those supercars ever collected in one place.

Apart from the more than 150 fantastic rallye cars entered in the 2016 edition of the Eifel Rallye Festival, there were also some legendary drivers present thus making it an authentic journey in time.

Walter Röhrl was joined by another two-time World Rally Champion. This was Miki Biasion who drove a real Group B supercar, a Lancia Delta S4, with his daughter Bettina as navigator. Stig Blomqvist, 1984 World Rally Champion, also turned the Festival into a family affair. The Swede drove a Ford Sierra Cosworth with his wife Asa in the co-driver’s seat. Harald Demuth, who was reunited with an Audi Sport Quattro S1 prepared by Audi Tradition, said, “This event only deserves superlatives.”

Peter Schlömer, chief organiser of the Eifel Rallye Festival, commented, “The number of spectators was once again higher than before. This is a fantastic reward for the organising team which works for several months to get the Eifel Rallye Festival running.”

Since there is no actual competition at the Eifel Rallye Festival, the winners of the demonstration are decided by a jury of experts — not an easy task considering the stunning entry list at this year’s event. After intense consultation, the jury awarded the Mazda RX-7 driven by Yves Loubet as “Best Replication” and the prize for the “Best original” was given to Wolf-Dieter Ihle and his Audi Sport Quattro S1. For the “Champion’s Choice” award, Walter Röhrl, Miki Biasion, Stig Blomqvist, Yves Loubet and Harald Demuth selected their favourite rally car — the Peugeot 205 T16 of Fernando and Dario Garrido. The “Rallying Ambassador” prize was awarded to former co-driver, team manager and book author John Davenport.

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Similar to 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015, Sports Car Digest also documented the Eifel Rallye Festival 2016, with Senior Photographer Julien Mahiels offering the following stunning picture gallery that shows the varied field of entrants tackling the volcanic Eifel region of Germany.

2016 Eifel Rallye Festival – Photo Gallery (click image for larger picture)

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