DRM: Dinkel with overall victory at the Ostalb Rally

Patrik Dinkel and his co-driver Alexander Benning used the 35th Ostalb Rally as preparation for the second round of the German Rally Championship. In the Hyundai I20 Rally2 of the Luxembourg team FS-Rallyesport, the duo set all the fastest times and set off fireworks to the delight of the many spectators.

"The Ostalb Rally has enjoyed a high standing in the national rally scene for many years. I competed there myself in 2019 and celebrated overall victory in the Mitsubishi Evo 9. As back then, the opening stage "Pommes", which leads around Pommertsweiler, is one of the best routes in Germany. Beautifully curved combinations of bends, undulating, uphill and downhill, changing surfaces, blind crests - simply everything you need to have real fun," enthused the Dinkel youngster after the first loop. At this point, the I20 Rally2 was already 37.5 seconds in the lead.

The second loop was similar to the first, the lead over the competition grew to 1:16.4 seconds and the first overall victory of the current season was secured.

"This year, our focus is clearly on the German Rally Championship. At the first round in the Erzgebirge, we were sometimes too far away from the front-runners. We carried out an intensive analysis and wanted to test the findings in the "wild" - the feeling is really good and we are looking forward to the next round of the DRM in Sulingen (May 03/04, 2024)," said co-driver Alexander at the award ceremony in high spirits.

"The main change is the clean line - I became known as a spectacular driver in the Mitsubishi and also tried this style in the modern Rally2 car - but we demonstrably lost a lot of time as a result. We implemented everything over the almost 70 test kilometers today, only used the handbrake in two or three hairpins and drove as smoothly as possible. I am confident that we will be able to gradually reduce the gap to the front in the coming races," says Patrik, providing a deeper insight into the matter.