Franconian Rally: Patrik Dinkel celebrates season finale in a replacement car

Patrik Dinkel and Anna Hinrichs experienced hectic days when their Mitsubishi Evo 9 became unfit for use shortly before the start of the Rally Franconian Switzerland due to technical problems. Without further ado, they had to build a replacement car, which was dismantled in their own hall.
That was a lot of hard work! We spent most of the night working on it, as our Mitsubishi Evo VI had already been deregistered for the "Sol de Ponent" rally in Mallorca next February. This morning we went to the registration office and now we're here," said the Dinkel youngster with relief at the technical scrutineering on the eve of the home event.
The first times in the opening stages showed that it took some time to get used to the older car. From the third special stage onwards, however, the driver was at one with the car again and the third overall time was on the board.In the second run-through, Dinkel/Hinrichs improved by 14.2 seconds, which meant second time overall behind brother Dominik Dinkel and Michael Teufel in the modern Renault Clio Rally3.
The gap to their class rivals Schmidt/Uttenreuter and Macht/Glatzel (both Mitsubishi Evo) shrank to less than 5 seconds when a missed turn-off in SS 5, followed by a handbrake turn, led to an early decision. Even another second overall time in SS 6 did nothing to change the fact that the podium place was lost by 4.9 seconds - third place in class is nevertheless a satisfying conclusion to the work of the past few days.
"The brake failure is entirely my fault! The car ran like clockwork and my co-driver Anna did her usual impeccable job. With a little distance, I can be pleased with the result we achieved. Now it's time for a break - but it certainly won't be long before we start planning the season for next year." Patrik sums up the weekend.