The Breslau Rally was held for the 31st time from 22 to 27 June. The Breslau Rally has grown over the past decades to become the largest off-road rally on the European mainland. The programme included a prologue and five stages on military terrains in Poland.
In addition to the places Zagan and Drawsko Pomorski, which have been visited for years, a third bivouac was to be set up on the Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, those plans had to be changed shortly before the start of the rally and it was cancelled. The geopolitical situation did not allow for driving on the terrain there. The organisation, RBI Sports, quickly changed gears and added extra rally kilometres in the available area around Drawsko Pomorski. This year too, there was a lot of Dutch input. We look back on a rally that traditionally involves difficult navigation.
Problems with navigation tablets
This edition of the Breslau Rally will go down in history somewhat flawed. From the very first day, there were many problems with the tablets used for navigation. Delays, failures or not scrolling properly; in a rally where navigation is already difficult enough, this does not improve the mood of the navigators. After a software update, the problems decreased, but the organization will probably have to scratch their heads in the evaluation and think about a solution for the next edition.
Bikes
The contribution from Lithuania is striking in the bikes category. The top ten includes no less than five riders from the southernmost Baltic state. Among those five are the winner Dovydas Karka and number two Edvard Sokolovskij. Dutch input was also not insignificant and fellow countryman Berend de Ruiter took third place in his second Breslau Rally. Jeremy Knuiman came third and it is nice to see that this youngster is steadily working towards participation in the Dakar Rally under the guidance of his father and Dakar legend Henk Knuiman. Another notable participant from the Netherlands is Pascal de Baar. On an old KTM 525 he finished the rally in 41st position. Super nice to ride a classic, but there are also disadvantages. Halfway the rally he had to make quite a few kilometers outside the bivouac to pick up parts for his KTM somewhere deep in Germany.
Quads
Quads are unfortunately no longer welcome in the Dakar Rally, but they are in the Breslau Rally. At the top, the battle was between Poland and the Netherlands. Poland won that battle with winner Adam Krystak and Karol Slugocki in second place. Mark Plat upheld the Dutch honor on behalf of team Quadwinkel with a third place. Behind him, teammates Henk Wiltjer and Timo Offenga came fourth and fifth respectively.
SSV’s
In recent years, the development of the SSV class has taken off enormously. With 56 participants, it is the category with the most entries in the Breslau Rally. Here we saw Paul Spierings with Jan Pieter van der Stelt triumph in the Taurus ahead of the Poles Marcin Graczyk and Artur Kordala and the Estonian duo Indrek Reisenbuk and Vaido Kalm.
Cars (Open Class)
A strange duck in the bunch managed to claim victory in the cars in the open class. The Nissan Patrol of the Poles Remigiusz Wutkowski and Michal Goleniewski actually belongs in the Extreme Class, but the organization let the entry stand. This caused some frustration for the Dutch couples Jerry van Langen / Bas Jongejan and Herman Jasper / Mark Laan who came second and third. As a playful protest, they briefly played the Wilhelmus during the podium ceremony. The Dutch Jenne Jasper / Marijn Verbeek were also in the top 10 in sixth place. One place above Richard Timmerman who, with Lucas van Geest as navigator, neatly finished seventh. With the duo Harry Oosting / Mika Kreeft in ninth place, we even find a fifth team in the top ten in the final ranking.
Trucks
The Dutch are traditionally strongly represented in the trucks. The top three were completely red-white-blue. William van Groningen stood out above everyone and took the well-deserved victory without any real opposition, together with his brother Jacco and son Wesley. The combination Hans van der Sander / Ruud Jansen / Luc Jansen took second place after an exciting battle and William van de Krol with Evert van Veldhuizen and Rens Koudijs were allowed to receive the third prize.
Extreme
Traditionally, the Breslau Rally is an Extreme rally to which the cross-country classes were added later. In the Extreme classes, in addition to speed and navigation, it is also about overcoming extreme obstacles such as water wells. Vehicles are equipped with at least one winch and this must certainly be used several times to move forward. In the Light Trucks, there was success for Dutchmen Floor Dekkers and Simon Meintema who managed to conquer a nice third place with the German Hendrik Alfers.
