DRM Nationals runner-up with five wins this season: Hamadeh-Spaniol takes stock after the Ostsee-Rallye.

For the final race of the Deutsche Rallye Meisterschaft, Tarek Hamadeh-Spaniol and Henry Wichura travelled to Ostsee-Rallye in second place in the DRM Nationals championship table. Winning his class would not be enough on its own to clinch the German championship title.

Due to the differences in vehicles, the DRM Nationals are split into various power classes, with points awarded in each based on placings. These points determine the overall standings across all classes at the end of the season. 

Tarek and Henry gained their fifth win in a row in the final race to chalk up the maximum score in the HYLO^®car, securing the highest number of wins during the season across all classes. 

Despite this exceptional result, it still left them a hair’s breadth away from the German championship title.

‘Looking back, we lost the championship at the first event in the Ore Mountains. We chose the wrong tyres and were caught out in the rain on slicks, taking a slow-motion slide on a slow right-hand bend into a damp field where we remained stuck for twenty minutes, finishing last and losing a lot of points as a result. John Macht and Michael Teufel in their Mitsubishi Lancer Evo quite simply performed better than us’, Tarek admitted. Although the Macht/Teufel team gained fewer wins, they did not make any major slips and thus won the championship by a hair’s breadth at 168 points, ahead of Tarek and Henry on 159 points.

It has been a fantastic year. We did not make any major slips in our vehicle this year and only went off the track once.

Tarek Hamadeh-Spaniol

‘It has been a fantastic year. We did not make any major slips in our vehicle this year and only went off the track once. It is annoying that one mistake should have such major consequences, but that’s rally driving and is part of the sport. It shows that performance levels are extremely high and you cannot afford to make any mistakes. Perhaps next year, we will have an opportunity for a rematch, but for now we are celebrating being the runners-up. There are lots of people who have helped us achieve this fantastic result and deserve our thanks, starting with our partners, our team, the fans lining the routes, and the event organisers with all of their volunteers. The only way we can create moments like these is by working together! We are hugely grateful!’, Tarek said on the finish line.

We would like to congratulate Tarek Hamadeh-Spaniol on another exceptional season and on being the championship runner-up.