Motorsport: Class victory at the Easter Rally Tiefenbach for Patrik Dinkel

The 21st edition of the Oster-Rallye Tiefenbach was once again a complete success. The reigning Austrian national champion Simon Wagner won as expected in the current Skoda Fabia RS Rally2 with a large lead. Behind him, an exciting battle ensued, which Patrik Dinkel and co-driver Lisa Retzer in the Brose Mitsubishi Evo 9 RS finished on the overall podium as class winners.

Nearly 90 participants and several thousand fans experienced a top-organised event by ASC Tiefenbach, whose asphalt stages were even more demanding due to the precipitation in the run-up and caused a correspondingly high drop-out rate. Patrik Dinkel and his co-driver Lisa Retzer started the event cautiously with their new rain tyres and accordingly lost almost five seconds to their main rivals Rudi Reindl / Michael Ehrle in another Mitsubishi Evo in the first special stage. In the following two stages, the team gained confidence and reduced the gap to the leaders to 9.9 seconds at the half-time break.

In the second run on the eight-kilometre start-finish stage "Witzmannsberg", Dinkel / Retzer improved by more than 10 seconds and reduced the gap to 4.8 seconds. Reindl / Ehrle made a small slip in the following stage "Seining" and damaged the radiator, which led to retirement. Patrik and Lisa also remained faultless on the final "Tiefenbach" circuit and were celebrated as class winners in NC1 in the evening - they were also on the overall podium in third place!

"The cooperation with my co-driver Lisa Retzer worked perfectly from the first metre. In the first loop a few more seconds would have been possible - but the second turn went almost perfectly. I am very happy and am already looking forward to the coming events with my family, sponsors and supporters," said the fully motivated Dinkel youngster at the award ceremony in the evening.

The next race on the 2023 event calendar is the 10th ADAC Rally Fränkisches Weinland on 29 April after last year's break. After the good experiences in the past, Patrik Dinkel decided to take part in the anniversary event of the ASC Hammelburg with start and finish in Elfershausen.