Rallye Breslau 2023: The adventure officially started

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The first day offered a prologue and a tricky leg

Rallye Breslau 2023 officially started with a flag off ceremony in the city of Zagan. There, more 220 racing vehicles from all classes took their first challenge – a technical prologue, followed with a demanding first full race stage.
Normally the first day of any rally is just a little more than a parade for the participants. But Rallye Breslau is not like that! It’s well- known for being the toughest race in Europe and this first day was among the busiest of the week with the Show Start, the Prologue and the Selective Stage 1.
Early in the morning, all the participants of the Rallye Breslau 2023 were in the central square of the city of Zagan for the Show. After the flag off, a small transfer got them to the start of the prologue in the Lipinki area. And it wasn’t easy prologue – it was a real taste of all the terrains that the rally will offer to the participants during the various legs. An unusually long prologue: no less than 30 km from the thousand woops, tank tracks to the classic road in the Polish forest. And technical driving and precise navigation were the key to a good result. The Extremes in the prologue faced a route entirely dedicated to them with new sections of "true extreme" with water and mud lovers. A first taste of the pitfalls that will accompany this category throughout the week.
At this point, instead of finishing the day with the prologue classification, the competitors were in line for the start of the first long selective stage. The Cross Country and Extreme categories spent the rest of day in the Świętoszów area, known as the European Sahara. The terrain of this huge polygon is unique in Europe and its fine sand requires "African" style driving skills. The tank tracks were the leitmotif of the day. And the drivers have to concentrate on driving and the co-drivers on the roadbook because in Breslau the correct reading of each note is an integral part of the game!
In the bike class, it was Matthew Gird, who managed the challenge with the best time. The pilot from South Africa took the stage win with 2 minutes advance to Modestast Siliunas from Lithuania. Bas Eikelenboom from Nederland completed the daily podium.
In the ATV class it was a battle between 2 well-known raiders – Rafal Jawien from Poland and Gaetan Martinez from France. And it was Jawien, who clocked the best time on the stage, leading 2 minutes to Martinez. Third place for the day went to another pilot from Poland – Adam Krysiak.
Fastest in the Cars Cross-Country class was the Roger Schoonbrood (Toyota). The driver from Belgium made a good almost 6 minutes advance to Tonnie Van Der Hoeven from Nederland, also with Toyota. Third for the day became Henry Ulke from Germany with Nissan.
Ruud Bellemakers (Polaris) from Nederland was the fastest in the SSV class. He overpassed the Lithuanian Dalius Olechnavicius (Can-Am) with slightlu more than 2 minutes. Daily top 3 was completed by Michal Latoch (Can Am) from Poland.
In the truck CC class, it was entire Dutch fight for the best time, which was won by Wiliam Van Groningen (Iveco), who made huge advance of almost 26 minutes to Hugo Kupper (DAF). Kupeer, as well as the third fastest ford the day – Richard De Groot missed a WPM, which cost them 5 minutes penalty.
Finally, in the brand new Ultra4 class of Rallye Breslau, who follows the route of cross-country, fastest was Antoine Reul from Belgium.
Hardo Mere was the best car driver in the Extreme category, where the daily podium was occupied by Estonian pilots. Among the trucks, Heiko Seidel (Mercedes) managed to take the hard terrain with the best time.
The second racing day will offer 160 kilometers against the clock and it will be the last in Zagan area. The route will serve everything – sand, forests, fast tracks and tricky navigation.

Source RBI / Breslau Rally

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