Hamadeh-Spaniol takes lead in DRM Nationals after second class win in Sulingen

For the second race of the Deutsche Rallye Meisterschaft championship (25 + 26 April 2025), the rally circus moved 50 kilometres south of Bremen to Rallye Sulingen. A special stage nearly 25 kilometres in length on a former military site offered exciting motorsport but also a few crashes.

For Tarek Hamadeh-Spaniol, the 36th Rallye Sulingen marks his sixth time at the event, which has been a regular feature in Germany’s top rally league for many years. Together with co-driver Anna-Lena Mergen, the Saarubrücken-based HYLO^® driver set a standard at the first leg on Friday evening, winning two of three special stages and ending the first day nearly eleven seconds ahead of second place in the NC4 class (which had nine competitors).

The second leg on Saturday then saw a real battle for the best times, with the gap to second place halved after the first special stage.

The famous IVG military site generally helps determine the rally winner – but not in the NC4 class.

After Tarek set a clear best time in the first round to put him 14 seconds ahead, he only had a lead of 2.5 seconds in the second round. 

A difference of 2.5 seconds across a special stage nearly 25 kilometres long with virtually no straights is truly crazy. It shows how tight things are in our class. Unfortunately, we lost some time on the other stretches

Anna-Lena said in the regrouping. Before the last four stages, the scoreboard gave them a slender lead of just 1.3 seconds.

Attack is the best form of defence

The last four special stages similarly saw two wins for Tarek and Anna-Lena and two for the next team. They ultimately won the class with a lead of 19.2 seconds. 

That was a great fight. We really squeezed everything out of our Citroën C2 Challenge in the Barenburg stage. There are rarely any perfect rounds in rallying. I think that was one, and secured us the win

Tarek delightedly said at the finish.

Thanks to a second class win in two races, Tarek and his team are heading the DRM Nationals championship tables with 19.06 points, just ahead of Walter Gromöller in the Opel Ascona 400 with 18.82 points. The third place on the podium is currently occupied by siblings Karl Otto and Anna Niebäumer with 16.41 points. 

The next race will be on 23 and 24 May and will be held in Eindhoven (the Netherlands) for the first time.