Dinkel/Fürst take fifth place overall on French gravel

Already at its only second gravel appearance, the Brose Rallye Team Dominik Dinkel / Christina Fürst impressed in Southern France not only with an overall fifth place, but also or especially as the third-fastest R5 vehicle. Their intention to expand the gravel experience gained so far was perfectly implemented at the "19th Rally Castine - Terre d'Occitanie 2019" in the Brose Hyundai i20 R5.

Dominik Dinkel and Christina Fürst had again to deal with new conditions. For the first time they were on dry tracks in France, but their characteristics differed a lot from those of the previous Terre des Causses Rally. "The roads and tracks were much narrower, the gravel harder and stonier, and there were a lot of deep ruts in the second run of the special stages. Time to breathe was never given, corner after corner, the rhythm changed again and again in the stages in quick succession. On Sunday the ground was rockier, you had to be careful not to hit anything from the side. For me it was one of the most demanding rallies I've ever driven," says Dominik Dinkel.

For the first time the 26-year-old Upper Franconian can push the Brose Hyundai i20 R5, which runs absolutely smoothly, on dry terrain in a competition. "Together with the very professionally working technicians and mechanics from Sarrazin Motorsport, we again tested many setup variants. Especially for Sunday we found really good settings," he continues.

The results confirm this statement. Right from the start Dominik and Christina stay in the top ten of the French gravel specialists, four of whom sit in powerful World Rally Cars. Unimpressed by this, the Brose Rallye Team is four times among the five fastest participants of the overall field, marks seven R5 top three times and has moved much closer to the top.

"After this strong performance we are of course fully motivated and looking forward to the next event. That's the start at the Rally Portugal, which is part of the World Championship. There we'll meet the very best R5 teams at the moment. The experience we've had so far will certainly help us there. We owe it to our sponsors and supporter Michael Stoschek that we were able to gather this experience, as well as the rally participations still ahead of us in our 2019 learning season. We appreciate their high commitment immensely and will do everything in our power to confirm the trust placed in us with further increasing speed and corresponding results," Dominik Dinkel and co-driver Christina Fürst, who will travel to Portugal in a positive spirit at the end of May, assure us.