Top international Rally Co-Driver and Mayo man Killian Duffy was in action over the weekend, navigating for Qatari driver Abdulaziz Al-Kuwari, the pair, as part of their build up for round 9 of the World Rally Championships (ADAC Rallye Deutschland) entered a National German Rally, Rallye Wartburg, based in Eisenach.
Speaking before the event Killian said,”It’s important to get a feel for the surface that we’ll be competing on in Germany in two weeks time, the event is seen by competitors as the most difficult tarmac round of the championships, Unpredictable weather in the mountains makes tyre choice tricky, another object experienced only in Germany are the ‘hinkelsteins’, avoiding these that crop-up as part of the route which were designed to stop military tanks during the second world war are a must!!.”
The pair put in a strong performance in their Skoda Fabia R5 over the two day event to finish on Sunday afternoon in fifth place overall, having occupied fourth place and only being one second off third place on Sunday morning, they experienced a stall in their car that resulted in the loss of enough time to rule them out of a podium finish. The event was won by three-time German Rally Champion and former European and Asia-Pacific champion Armin Kremer and his navigator Pirmin Winklhofer, in a Skoda Fabia R5.
Speaking after the event Killian was in a positive mood “The Germany event went well, conditions were dry and warm, we confirmed where we think we are with the car and we’re really happy. It was good to get some more kilometres under our belt in this environment.”
