The first real test of Rallye Breslau 2026 brought competitors a tough and technical stage in the area around Drawsko Pomorskie. The combination of fast sandy tracks and difficult navigation through the forests made for a demanding opening day, with success and setbacks for the Dutch contingent.
On the programme were 180.70 kilometres, plus 9.62 kilometres of liaison, for a total of 190.32 kilometres. After the daytime stage came the famous night stage in the evening, one of the most iconic challenges of Breslau. In the dark, competitors covered a further 57.54 kilometres of special and 13.27 kilometres of liaison, 70.81 kilometres in total.
De Ruiter out in front again
In the Enduro class, a Dutchman set the fastest time. Berend de Ruiter (Husqvarna FE 450, Road to Rally) won SS1 with a time of 2:31:12. “First stage done. Really a good feeling with the bike and the navigation,” De Ruiter said afterwards. Behind him came compatriot Jeremy Knuiman more than thirteen minutes back, with South African Matthew Gird in third. Notable was the drop in prologue standings due to time penalties: Enduro prologue winner Knuiman had to hand victory to De Ruiter, and German Tobias Haidt, second in the prologue, slid far down the results with almost an hour of penalty time.
In the ATVs, Pole Adam Krysiak (Polaris Scrambler XP 1000, Polaris Polska Racing Team) confirmed his favourite status with a convincing day’s win in 2:44:28, more than half an hour ahead of compatriot Tymon Baszczyński. German Fabian Heider finished third.
In the Car Open class, the fastest time went to the Lithuanian pairing of Mindaugas Povilaitis and Slavomir Volkov (Toyota Hilux) in 2:32:02. Dutchmen Stijn van Erp and Lucas van Geest followed in their Fiat Fullback Proto by just 1:42, with the Polish duo of Remigiusz Wutkowski and Michał Goleniewski in third.
The SSV class was once again dominated by Lithuania. Prologue winners Arūnas Lekavičius and Arūnas Gelažninkas (BRP Maverick R) were also the fastest in SS1 with 2:19:58, setting the outright best time of the day. Dalius Olechnavičius and Romualdas Karužis made it a Lithuanian one-two, with the Polish crew of Grzegorz Gąsiorowski and Katarzyna Szałęga in third.
In the trucks, the day’s win was a Dutch affair. Brothers William, Wesley and Jacco van Groningen (Iveco Powerstar, Dust Warriors) were fastest with 2:35:08 and stayed more than eighteen minutes ahead of the German Tatra trio of Tom Heuer, Christoph Tum and Marco Richter.
The Dutch
With the wins of De Ruiter and the Van Groningen trio, the Dutch had a strong opening day, though it did not go flawlessly for everyone.
In the Enduro class, the Dutch were well represented in the results. Alongside winner Berend de Ruiter and Jeremy Knuiman’s second place, Michael Schuttel (seventh) and Hille Dalstra (eighth) posted strong times. Dyon van Wieringen (ninth) and Imar Verdouw (tenth) ran into speeding penalties, as did Floris Cuperus, who dropped back sharply with no less than 47 minutes of penalty time. Further down, Ruben van der Vlis (twelfth), Michel Langmuur (fifteenth), Julian den Haan (23rd) and Harry Korte (44th) reached the finish.
In the ATVs, Mark Plat (Polaris Scrambler S, JMP Racing) was the best Dutchman with sixth place. Jordy Verkleij (Can-Am Renegade, VVK Racing) finished ninth.
In Car Open, prologue winners Herman Jasper and Mark Laan in the Red-Lined VK50 had an instructive day. As the fastest pairing they opened the stage, but after 66 kilometres things went wrong. “Started a little too motivated,” said Laan. “At a difficult point I took the wrong turn. We lost around twenty minutes, but recovered nicely.” Despite that lost time and a minor intercom problem, Jasper and Laan finished fourth, a little more than fourteen minutes behind the winner. That made them the second Dutch crew after Van Erp and Van Geest. Also in Car Open, Richard Timmerman and Johan Senders finished fifth, Harry Oosting and Mika Kreeft sixth, Twan van den Langenberg and Paige Timmerman eleventh, Remco and Wesley de Jong fifteenth, Ton Stoker and Jan van den Elzen sixteenth, and Jenne Jasper and Marijn Verbeek seventeenth.
In the SSV class, Mitchel van den Brink, together with navigator Nick van Drie (Can-Am Maverick R, Eurol Rally Sport), was the best Dutchman with fifth place. For Van den Brink, recently third in the truck class of the Dakar Rally, this is his first Breslau and only his second non-FIA rally. He had to get used to the fact that the roadbook is not always exactly accurate as it is at FIA events, but visibly enjoyed himself. Jan van Gerven and Rudolf Meijer (Triple G Racing) finished sixth. Behind them came, among others, Arjan Donders and Edwin Vloemans (thirteenth), Berry Swinkels and Stefan van Ras (eighteenth), Harrie van Empel and Nick van Geloven (twentieth), Ruud Bellemakers and Martijn Daas (23rd), Rob van Horssen and Carlo Spreeuwenberg (28th), Alexander Lantink and Alexander Gouw (32nd), Harrie Renders and Theo van de Looy (33rd) and the second Eurol Rally Sport pairing of Arjan Ruitenbeek and Dirk-Jan Hooijer (34th).
The day did not run smoothly for all Dutch SSV drivers. Jeroen van Kasteren (Boss Racing), fifth in the class in the prologue, had to retire after about ten kilometres. A bolt in a suspension arm had worked loose, after which the arm broke. On a straight section of track the SSV suddenly veered into the trees, which then pushed the vehicle back to the middle of the track. That brought an early end to his rally day.
In the trucks, alongside winner Van Groningen, the Dutch presence was substantial. The FVDS Rally Team of Hans van der Sanden, Luc Jansen and Johan Theuws (Mercedes) finished third, followed by the FVDS GINAF of Jasper Fiers, Giel de Backer and Sjors van Nunen (fourth) and Rally Team Van de Krol with William van de Krol, Evert van Veldhuizen and Rens Koudijs (fifth).
Into the night
With the first daytime stage complete, attention shifts to the night stage and the coming rally days in Drawsko, before the caravan moves south via the Hannibal marathon stage on Wednesday 1 July, towards the sandy plains around Żagań.
Rallytracks.nl will continue to follow the performances of the Dutch competitors over the coming days.
