Rally radar from the ADAC Rallye Deutschland 2016

• Prominent guests, atmospheric ceremonial start, official reception and historic highlights during the German round of the FIA World Rally Championship

Prominent guests impressed by the motorsport spectacle: The ADAC Rallye Deutschland not only attracts the world's rallying elite, but also numerous famous personalities. On Thursday, the German boxing world champion Marco Huck paid a visit to the rally and stepped into the Polo R WRC for a passenger ride alongside Sébastien Ogier during the shakedown. Fans were treated to special taxi rides on Saturday: in a raffle, they had the chance to win, passenger rides at the Panzerplatte alongside rally legend Markku Alén with the Polo R WRC.

To support Sébastien Ogier, TV presenter Andrea Kaiser was on site and was delighted to see her husband leading the rally. At the military training camp of Baumholder, Dr. Frank Welsch, Volkswagen's board member for development, watched the rallying action. Klaus Bouillon, minister of the interior of the Saarland, also paid a brief visit to the ADAC Rallye Deutschand. Together with ADAC sports president Hermann Tomczyk, Adrian Bosshard, president of watch maker Certina, will be handing over the trophies during the prize-giving ceremony at the Porta Nigra.

Members of the ADAC presidium also closely followed the rally, first and foremost ADAC president Dr. August Markl. Together with him, Matthias Feltz (first vice-president), Thomas Burkhard (vice-president for technical matters) and Ulrich Klaus Becker (vice-president for traffic) attended the ceremonial start and special stages. DMSB president Hans-Joachim Stuck was also among the guests of honour during the opening. The other guests during the weekend also included a delegation from Toyota that will be making its WRC return in 2017.

Atmospheric ceremonial start in front of the Porta Nigra: In excellent weather conditions, numerous fans attended the traditional ceremonial start in front of the historic Porta Nigra in Trier on Thursday evening. The start of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland was celebrated until well into the night. For the drivers' presentation, the Porta Nigra was illuminated in a spectacular way.

Official reception of the City of Trier on Friday: On Friday evening, the City of Trier and the ADAC invited high-ranking officials of the global motoring federation FIA as well as business representatives and politicians to an official reception from the city. At this occasion, mayor Wolfram Leibe welcomed the ADAC Rallye Deutschland to Trier.

History highlights in the service park and at Panzerplatte: Volkswagen Motorsport's 50th anniversary was the occasion for nostalgic motorsport moment. Five rare Volkswagen competition cars were on display in the service park Trier, including the bi-motor Golf GTI, with which Jochi Kleint (D) made a record run at Pikes Peak in 1987. At the Panzerplatte, 20 privately owned historic Golf rally cars completed a few demonstration laps with former rally stars behind the wheel.