2019 Rallye Deutschland

2019 Rally Deutschland 37. ADAC Rallye Deutschland
Round 10 of 14 in the 2019 World Rally Championship ← Previous event Next event →
Unpredictable weather and a variety of tarmac surfaces can make tyre choice difficult.
Host country	Germany
Rally base	Bostalsee, Saarland
Dates run	22 – 25 August 2019
Start location	Winterbach, Saarland
Finish location	Sankt Wendel, Saarland
Stages	19 (344.04 km; 213.78 miles)[1]
Stage surface	Tarmac
Transport distance	844.19 km (524.56 miles)
Overall distance	1,228.23 km (763.19 miles)
Statistics
Crews registered	55
Crews	52 at start, 41 at finish
Overall results
Overall winner	Ott Tänak Martin Järveoja Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT 3:15:29.8
Power Stage winner	Thierry Neuville Nicolas Gilsoul Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT
Support category results
WRC-2 winner	Fabian Kreim Tobias Braun Fabian Kreim 3:28:16.7

The 2019 Rallye Deutschland (also known as ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2019) was a motor racing event for rally cars that was held over four days between 22 and 25 August 2019.^[2] It marked the thirty-seventh running of Rallye Deutschland and was the tenth round of the 2019 World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2 and the newly created WRC-2 Pro class. The 2019 event was based at the Bostalsee in Saarland, and was contested over nineteen special stages with a total a competitive distance of 344.04 km (213.78 mi).

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja were the defending rally winners. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, were the defending manufacturers' winners.^[3] The Škoda Motorsport crew of Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler were the defending winners in the World Rally Championship-2 category, but they did not defend their titles as they were promoted to the newly created WRC-2 Pro class.^[4]

Tänak and Järveoja successfully defended their titles to get German hat-trick. Their team, Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT, won the rally and covered all three podium places for the first time since 1993 Safari Rally.^[5] The Škoda Motorsport crew of Jan Kopecký and Pavel Dresler took their first victory of the season in the WRC-2 Pro category, finishing first in the combined WRC-2 category, while the local crew of Fabian Kreim and Tobias Braun won the wider WRC-2 class.^[6]

Ott Tänak and Martin Järveoja led both the drivers' and co-drivers' championships with a twenty-two-point ahead of defending world champions Sébastien Ogier and Julien Ingrassia. Thierry Neuville and Nicolas Gilsoul were third, a further three points behind. In the World Rally Championship for Manufacturers, Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT held a twenty-four-point lead over Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT.^[7]

In the World Rally Championship-2 Pro standings, Kalle Rovanperä and Jonne Halttunen held a thirty-eight-point lead ahead of Mads Østberg and Torstein Eriksen in the drivers' and co-drivers' standings respectively. Gus Greensmith and Elliott Edmondson were third, another thirteen points further back. In the manufacturers' championship, Škoda Motorsport led M-Sport Ford WRT by three points, with Citroën Total sixty-one points behind in third.^[8]

In the World Rally Championship-2 standings, Benito Guerra and Jaime Zapata led the drivers' and co-drivers' standings by eighteen points respectively. Pierre-Louis Loubet and Vincent Landais crew and Nikolay Gryazin and Yaroslav Fedorov crew tied in second.^[8]

The following crews entered into the rally. The event opened to crews competing in the World Rally Championship, World Rally Championship-2, WRC-2 Pro and privateer entries not registered to score points in any championship. A total of fifty-five entries were received, with eleven crews entered with World Rally Cars and nineteen entered the World Rally Championship-2. Four crews were nominated to score points in the Pro class.

No.	Driver	Co-Driver	Entrant	Car	Tyre
World Rally Car entries
1	Sébastien Ogier	Julien Ingrassia	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C3 WRC	M
3	Teemu Suninen	Jarmo Lehtinen	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
4	Esapekka Lappi	Janne Ferm	Citroën Total WRT	Citroën C3 WRC	M
5	Kris Meeke	Sebastian Marshall	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
6	Dani Sordo	Carlos del Barrio	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
8	Ott Tänak	Martin Järveoja	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
10	Jari-Matti Latvala	Miikka Anttila	Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
11	Thierry Neuville	Nicolas Gilsoul	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
17	Takamoto Katsuta	Daniel Barritt	Tommi Mäkinen Racing	Toyota Yaris WRC	M
44	Gus Greensmith	Elliott Edmondson	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta WRC	M
89	Andreas Mikkelsen	Anders Jæger-Amland	Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	Hyundai i20 Coupe WRC	M
World Rally Championship-2 Pro entries
21	Kalle Rovanperä	Jonne Halttunen	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M
22	Mads Østberg	Torstein Eriksen	Citroën Total[a]	Citroën C3 R5	M
23	Jan Kopecký	Pavel Dresler	Škoda Motorsport	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M
24	Eric Camilli	Benjamin Veillas	M-Sport Ford WRT	Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II	M
World Rally Championship-2 entries
41	Nikolay Gryazin	Yaroslav Fedorov	Nikolay Gryazin[b]	Škoda Fabia R5	M
43	Kajetan Kajetanowicz	Maciej Szczepaniak	Kajetan Kajetanowicz[c]	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	P
45	Fabio Andolfi	Simone Scattolin	Fabio Andolfi[d]	Škoda Fabia R5	P
46	Rhys Yates	James Morgan	Rhys Yates	Škoda Fabia R5	P
47	Adrien Fourmaux	Renaud Jamoul	Adrien Fourmaux[e]	Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II	M
48	Simone Tempestini	Sergiu Itu	Simone Tempestini[f]	Hyundai i20 R5	P
49	Guillaume De Mevius	Martijn Wydaeghe	Guillaume De Mevius[g]	Citroën C3 R5	M
50	Nicolas Ciamin	Yannick Roche	Nicolas Ciamin[h]	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	M
51	Sébastien Bedoret	Thomas Walbrecq	Sébastien Bedoret	Škoda Fabia R5	M
52	"Pedro"[i]	Emanuele Baldaccini	"Pedro"	Ford Fiesta R5 Mk. II	P
53	Stéphane Lefebvre	Thomas Dubois	Stéphane Lefebvre	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	P
54	Marijan Griebel	Pirmin Winklhofer	Marijan Griebel	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	M
55	Fabian Kreim	Tobias Braun	Fabian Kreim[j]	Škoda Fabia R5 Evo	P
56	Dominik Dinkel	Christina Fürst	Dominik Dinkel[k]	Hyundai i20 R5	P
57	Sebastian Schwinn	Felix Griebel	Sebastian Schwinn	Volkswagen Polo GTI R5	M
Other Major Entries
72	Kris Princen	Peter Kaspers	Kris Princen	Citroën DS3 WRC	M
73	Stéphane Sarrazin	Jacques-Julien Renucci	Stéphane Sarrazin	Hyundai i20 R5	P
Source:[9]

The competitive distance was increased from the 2018 event, while the liaison sections were shortened. The second leg features with a new format, with a pair of stages run twice in the morning and another pair run twice in the afternoon.^[10] This differs from the traditional format where all stages are run once before the second pass in the afternoon.

All dates and times are CEST (UTC+2).

The M-Sport Ford WRT crew of Elfyn Evans and Scott Martin were expected to return, having been forced to miss Rally Finland when Evans was injured in a pre-event testing crash. However, Evans' recovery time was subsequently extended, forcing him to miss Rallye Deutschland as well.^[11]

Ott Tänak held a narrow lead ahead of title rival Thierry Neuville going to the second leg.^[12] Teemu Suninen retired from Friday with mechanical problems.^[13] In Saturday afternoon, Tänak's two title rivals Neuville and Sébastien Ogier both suffered a puncture, which gave Toyota a dramatic 1-2-3.^[14] Eventually, three Toyotas came back safely to complete the first 1-2-3 finish in WRC since 2015 Rallye Deutschland.^[5]

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Manufacturers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Manufacturer	Points
1			Ott Tänak	205			Martin Järveoja	205			Hyundai Shell Mobis WRT	289
2		1	Thierry Neuville	172		1	Nicolas Gilsoul	172			Toyota Gazoo Racing WRT	281
3		1	Sébastien Ogier	165		1	Julien Ingrassia	165			Citroën Total WRT	216
4		3	Kris Meeke	80		2	Sebastian Marshall	80			M-Sport Ford WRT	168
5			Andreas Mikkelsen	79			Anders Jæger-Amland	79

Kalle Rovanperä led the category with a 20-second margin going into Saturday, but the young Finn had a nightmare morning on Saturday, when he slid into the ditch twice.^[15] Kalle's mistakes handed his lead to his teammate Jan Kopecký.^[16] Eventually, he won his first Pro victory.^[6]

Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships				Manufacturers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points		Move	Manufacturer	Points
1			Kalle Rovanperä	151			Jonne Halttunen	151			Škoda Motorsport	224
2			Mads Østberg	110			Torstein Eriksen	110			M-Sport Ford WRT	195
3			Gus Greensmith	85			Elliott Edmondson	85			Citroën Total	110
4			Łukasz Pieniążek	74			Kamil Heller	62
5			Jan Kopecký	61			Pavel Dresler	61

Stéphane Lefebvre held off fellow Frenchman Nicolas Ciamin until he crashed out his Polo during SS9. Unfortunately, Ciamin also crashed out in the following stage, which inherited the lead to local driver Fabian Kreim and handed him a fantastic home win.^[16][6]

Results in bold denote first in the RC2 class, the class which both the WRC-2 Pro and WRC-2 championships run to.

Pos.		Drivers' championships				Co-drivers' championships
		Move	Driver	Points		Move	Co-driver	Points
1		2	Nikolay Gryazin	73		2	Yaroslav Fedorov	73
2		1	Benito Guerra	69		1	Jaime Zapata	69
3		1	Pierre-Louis Loubet	63		1	Vincent Landais	63
4			Ole Christian Veiby	50			Jonas Andersson	50
5		1	Kajetan Kajetanowicz	48		1	Maciej Szczepaniak	48

• Official website (in German and English)
• 2019 Rallye Deutschland in e-wrc website
• The official website of the World Rally Championship