The ADAC Rallye Deutschland – an enormous collaborative effort

• Approx. 3,000 volunteers involved in the German FIA WRC rally
• All 18 ADAC regional clubs contribute to its success
• ADAC local clubs highly committed and attached to the rally region
• More than a hobby: 2,000 flag marshals in the ADAC Rallye Deutschland

Munich/Trier, 30 July 2015 – The volunteering spirit is alive – this is most obvious at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland. Some 3,000 volunteers will spend their leisure time at the German event of the FIA WRC rally helping World Champion Sébastien Ogier, 2014 winner Thierry Neuville, Jari-Matti Latvala and the other WRC drivers to compete in a spectacular chase for points. The coordination of such crowds of voluntary helpers presents a great challenge, says deputy Clerk of the Course, Franz-Rudolf Ubach: “Compared with motor sport events on a fixed race track, we need a lot more helpers. This is simply because a rally consists of several Special Stages that are in geographically separate locations. Moreover, each track has spectator areas with everything that is required for them and these must be set up first and then removed again. Only a strong team can make that happen.”

The ADAC Rallye Deutschland consists of 21 Special Stages this year, spread out over nine different areas. The venues are scattered around the greater Trier area - extending from the Mosel to the Eifel region, to the Saarland and the Hunsrück hills. Added to this are further locations and itineraries in and around Trier, ranging from the Konz Shakedown to the Show Start and the podium ceremony in front of the Porta Nigra gate to the Service Park located at the Trier fairground. Whichever scenario you pick, it is necessary to set up the infrastructure required for a FIA World Rally Championship event and to ensure the safety of spectators and competitors alike. To be able to cope with this mammoth task, all 18 ADAC regional clubs and their numerous local clubs are joining forces again this year to make the event a success. This is what renders the ADAC Rallye Deutschland such an enormous collaborative effort.

The ADAC local and motor sport clubs are major players in the concerted action of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland, underlines Franz-Rudolf Ubach: “They are at the heart of the rally and year after year they send their delegates with great enthusiasm - from the volunteers responsible for the event’s setup and removal to the flag marshals, to the Special Stage officials. It’s mostly the smaller clubs, which do not organise their own motor sport events, that are very keen to be part of the ADAC Rallye Deutschland.” Since the teams of the ADAC local clubs have been involved in the same regions for many years, they meanwhile feel rather attached to the people and places in the rally region. “In some cases this reminds me of twin-town relationships since people visit each other also outside the ADAC Rallye Deutschland event”, says Ubach.

To illustrate the volunteers’ extraordinary commitment in the German rally of the FIA WRC, Ubach refers to the flag marshals who are responsible for the security of the race tracks and spectator areas in the ADAC Rallye Deutschland: “We are talking about some 2,000 qualified officials from all over Germany - some are even from neighbouring countries. Many of them take time off work to help at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland.”

Marshals are required to give their best along the Special Stages: already three to four hours before the first rally car passes, they are briefed by their Special Stage chief officials before moving into their posts along the track. Since a Special Stage is usually run twice, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, this means that flag marshals are on their toes all day long.

There is evidence of the commitment of ADAC officials even before the actual ADAC Rallye Deutschland event: in addition to holding stewards licences, marshals of the German event of the FIA WRC rally must attend special training courses in their free time to meet the unique requirements of the WRC rally.