Breslau Rally: Biggest European amateur rally only six weeks before the start.

No asphalt, no circuits, and no grandstands: The main focus during the "Breslau Rally" in Poland taking place from July 12-19 will be off-road racing, dust, water, mud, navigation, team-spirit and simply a "great adventure". What the "Dakar Rally" is for the desert, the Breslau Rally is for European fields. Off-road racers from several nations will meet for a motorsport competition through forests, military grounds and vast terrains in the west part of Poland.

In contrast to the Dakar, the Breslau is a licence-free and inexpensive rally, suitable also for beginners. For more than 20 years the rally is considered as the largest licence-free amateur off-road rally in Europe. The start this year will be in Poland, in the city of Zagan, situated about 40 km from the German border. From Zagan the rally will move to the north and pass near the cities Borne Sulinowo and Drawsko Pomorskie - the competitors have to handle more than 1,500 race-kilometers in total.

In the past, the Breslau Rally was a synonymous mainly with a "mud-battle" - in this year for the first time the race will also offer a fully cross-country class, which racing course will avoid the water- and mud-passages and focus on faster driving. Or to put it simply: The motto of the regular extreme class is primarily: "Reach the end", the cross country class is more about speeding and racing within the shortest time.

Like the rally itself also the competitors are varying from year to year. In the 2014 edition definitely the cars and trucks will dominate the starting-field - especially with competitors from France. The event is international: Participants from France, Poland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Latvia, Holland, Italy, Belgium, the United Kingdom and even Egypt will take part. Actually the rally counts 61 cars, 24 trucks, 6 side-by-sides, 5 quads and 17 motorbikes - the entries are still open.

Especially in the truck category, international "stars" of the scene have announced their entry. The most powerful giants are coming from Holland: The "Dakar-veterans" Wuf van Ginkel and Edwin van Ginkel will race with two GINAF trucks. GINAF is a small truck-manufacturer from Holland, specialized in heavy-duty trucks. Both will start in the cross-country class for heavy trucks; contrary to the African or South American desert the trucks have to demonstrate their skills in the narrow forests of Poland.

The German “airbrush-artist” and entrepreneur in the automotive industry, Peter Niedergesaess, will celebrate his "comeback" with a wonderful painted Scania prototype. Niedergesaess and his crew were very active in the Breslau in the mid to late 2000´s, in the end of this period the team also got some experience in the desert of Tunisia but then retired from the rallyraid sport for some years.

Also from Germany the locally famous truck-specialist Udo Heidenreich will be back with a "secret" truck-prototype. In the past he was not only the winner of the rally in the truck-category, he also participated in the German TV-show "Wetten Dass" in which he placed a special bet: To pass a river with a Mercedes Unimog - on steel-wires! The audience was impressed and he became the winner of the TV-show.

Rally Breslau 2014 Itineary

Saturday, July 12th
Show start in the city of Zagan

Saturday, July 12th
Leg 1 Zagan-Zagan, 80 km

Sunday, July 13th
Leg 2 Zagan-Zagan, 150 km

Monday, July 14th
Leg 3 incl. night special stage
Zagan - Borne Sulinowo, 400 km

Tuesday, July 15th
Leg 4 Borne Sulinowo - Borne Sulinowo, 120 km

Wednesday, July 16th
Leg 5 Borne Sulinowo - Borne Sulinowo, 200 km

Thursday, July 17th
Leg 6 Borne Sulinowo - Drawsko Pomorskie, 250 km

Friday, July 18th
Leg 7 Drawsko Pom. - Drawsko Pom., 200 km

Saturday, July 19th
Leg 8 Drawsko Pom. - Drawsko Pom., 120 km

Saturday, July 19th
Prize Giving Ceremony Drawsko Pomorskie 

via marathonrally.com