Hamadeh-Spaniol back at the top of DRM Nationals rankings

Home race in St. Wendel

The rally circus stopped off in St. Wendel for the fifth round of the Deutsche Rallye Meisterschaft championship. The ADAC Saarland-Pfalz Rallye was the season’s home race for Tarek Hamadeh-Spaniol (Saarbrücken) and co-driver Anna-Lena Mergen (Nohfelden).

Situation before the rally

After the Saarland HYLO^® duo lost their DRM Nationals lead during the Rallye Mittelrhein despite clinching all four of their potential class wins, one thing became clear on reviewing the Saarland-Pfalz Rallye lineup: they could regain their position at the top of the board.

The points for the cross-class championship are awarded based not only on position, but also on the number of starters in each class. The lineups contained:

• Three competitors in the NC2 class (Gromöller / Meier team)
• Five competitors in the NC4 class (Tarek and Anna-Lena)

Both teams have managed to secure all four of their possible class wins, meaning that the only thing separating them in the tight race at the top of the championship table is the number of competitors in each class.

Dominating the NC4 class

At the ADAC Saarland-Pfalz Rallye, the Saarland duo in their Citroën C2 Challenge dominated the NC4 class right from the outset, continually extending their lead.

The special stages on Friday suited us particularly well. We really flew through the forest sections, especially in the Zauberwald special stage

Anna-Lena said happily.

Near miss and aftermath

After three competitors in the NC4 had to withdraw due to accidents and technical faults, Tarek and Anna-Lena had a five minute lead over the remaining second-placed team before starting the final special stage.

‘Driving to the end of a rally gently without any risks is harder than you think. You start to lose your concentration, which is when mistakes quickly start appearing. I wasn’t paying attention at a hairpin bend and I had to take a different turn. I assumed that we could drive through the meadow on two wheels. Unfortunately, there was a deep ditch concealed under the grass, and we almost got stuck in it. We tore off the right drive shaft while backing out. The differential lock meant that we could only crawl slowly towards the finish line with one-wheel drive. Fortunately, we had already built up enough of a lead, otherwise it would have been very tight. If you ignore that mistake, it was a fantastic weekend at home for us’, Tarek explained about the time dropped on the last special stage.

If you ignore that mistake, it was a fantastic weekend at home for us.