One of the key elements of WRC Rally Deutschland was always Panzerplatte. In contrast to the angular and narrow tarmac roads in the vineyards and countryside of Saarland, this military range test offered wider roads, abrasive concrete surfaces, crests or even jumps and tank-sopping Hinkelstein stones at the side of the road. And of course, the stage was long.
Cover photo by Neuweiser / Flickr
Rally: 🇩🇪 Deutschland
Surface: Tarmac/Concrete
Length range : 29-46 km
First appearance: 2002
Latest appearance: 2019
Junction turns: ~2/km
Surface changes: numerous
At the end of the day it is always in the military camp that the difference happens.
There, the tyre management is playing a major role and the puncture factor is there. Hopefully, we can stay out of this but it’s always a bit of a lottery to stay out of trouble and to avoid punctures.
There is always a bit of fear for me to drive at this camp.
– Sebastien Ogier“It’s very, very slippery. In fact, it’s like nowhere else in the world championship and if it rains, it’s like driving on ice. In fact worse than driving on ice, because normally when you drive on ice you have snow tyres!”
– Jari-Matti Latvala
WHy is it so great?
Panzerplatte has been featured on all WRC editions of Rally Deutschland. Often it was run in two stages, sometimes the other one labeled Maiwald, or split into a short “Sprint” or “Arena” version and a long version.
Almost all versions of Panzerplatte are different to each other, but the 2002 and 2003 stages are almost identical, as are the 2006 and 2007 ones.
As we mentioned, Panzerplatte is a whole different stage to the vineyard and countryside stages. Panzerplatte was almost like a mini-rally within the whole rally, sometimes making up a fourth of the stage mileage.
Most of the difference comes from the surface of the road, often concrete – as it was designed for testing tanks – as opposed to tarmac. The roads are often wider, and there can be crests over corners, even jumps, almost like in Finland, as opposed to the very angular and narrow roads in the vineyards. But there’s also long straights where top speed is reached as well as dozens of junction turns.
Panzerplatte is a long stage, up to 40 km, and that combined with the abrasive concrete surfaces makes it difficult for tyres. Both tyre wear and punctures have been risks in Panzerplatte.
Finally, the arena section in Panzerplatte has been popular with spectators, but partly because most of the stage is not allowed for spectators. But then again, sometimes you can see each car enter the arena twice during the stage, with minutes between.
The arena is also near the Gina jump, named after the actor Gina Lollobrigida, as well as the wreck of a Tornado jet plane.
Panzerplatte has also wrought havoc, namely for Petter Solberg in 2004 and Stephane Lefebvre in 2016.
Key locations
#1 Gina Jump
#2 Tornado Wreck
#3 The Arena
#4 Petter Solberg crash location
Further reading and watching
📝 Rallye-Magazin: You’re in the army now
📝 Red Bull: Rallye Deutschland gets military
📝 Dirtfish: Rally Deutschland 2020 to be held entirely on Panzerplatte
It Gets Faster Now! 