In today's first press conference, we announced the key facts for the 24th International ADMV Lausitz-Rallye. Club chairman Wolfgang Rasper and press spokesman Björn Fröbe as well as local politicians and representatives of sponsors answered the media representatives' questions.

The 24th International ADMV Lausitz-Rallye in Boxberg/O.L. will start under much better auspices than last year. After the Corona compulsory break in 2020, the fans will again be able to stand at the track and cheer on their favourites.

"When the first vehicle starts the rally in front of the Boxberger Dorfgemeinschaftshaus on November 4th at 3:15 p.m., something like normality will return," hopes organising director Wolfgang Rasper, adding: "We are happy that we can let the spectators come to the tracks again."

This year's route is 98 per cent identical to last year's. This means that the teams who already took part last year have the advantage that they only have to make minimal adjustments to their pace notes. Once again, the "Lausitz" is the final round of the "FIA European Rally Trophy", as well as the final round of the DMSB Schotter Rallye Cup, the ADMV Rallye Meisterschaft and the HD Schotter Cup. Due to the postponement of some rounds to the second half of the year, the respective championships will be tightly contested.

Young Guns
A new feature is that, with the approval of the FIA and the DMSB, young drivers with a minimum age of 16 are eligible to start at the Lausitz-Rallye for the first time this year. Some German and European young talents, including Fabio Schwarz (son of ex-factory driver Armin Schwarz), have already signalled their coming.

New official start in the centre of Boxberg
This year, the start ramp will be placed in front of the Dorfgemeinschaftshaus in Boxberg (Alte Bautzener Straße 87). "With this, we want to explicitly thank the community for their phenomenal support and have the official start and finish in the centre of the town," says Björn Fröbe, press spokesman. During the press conference, Petra Hascha from the Sparkasse Oberlausitz-Niederschlesien foundation handed over a funding notification to Wolfgang Rasper.

Watching under 2G rules
The Rally-, Renn- & Wassersportclub Lausitz e.V. has decided to organise the Lausitz Rally under "2G conditions" (only vaccinated or recovered) for spectators. This is based on the Saxon Corona Protection Ordinance applicable to major events in Saxony and the general decree issued by the district of Görlitz.

Only fully vaccinated or recovered spectators have access to the event. Checkpoints will be set up at the entrance to the official spectator points, where the valid ticket will be checked in conjunction with the complete 2G proof. Admission to the spectator points will only be granted after a successful check.

Spectators will be given a wrist band when their 2G proof is checked for the first time to indicate that their 2G status has been successfully checked. Spectators without a valid ticket or without or incomplete 2G proof will be denied access to the event. Entry and exit at the spectator points will be ensured by means of scanning in and out at the control points. Spectators will be required to wear mouth-to-nose coverings at spectator points if the social distance of 1.5 metres cannot be maintained.

"We know that we will not satisfy all fans with this, but we are happy to be able to allow spectators again at all," says Wolfgang Rasper. With this arrangement, it will also be possible to visit the service park to look over the shoulders of the teams at work or to get autographs.

Another aspect for this decision is the fact that free testing will no longer be offered from mid-October. This means that the control of the test proof will be transferred to the organiser, which is simply not feasible from an organisational point of view.

Online ticket sales will be possible from 28 October 2021 via the Lausitz-Rallye website.

New edition of the Kahle vs. Grondal duel
After Anders Grondal (Norway) submitted his entry last weekend, fans can expect a hot fight between him and Matthias Kahle for the Lausitz-Rallye crown. Kahle, who does not want to include his fifth victory from last year in the duel due to the pandemic, is again expecting a close duel with his challenger, who has four victories to his name. Grondal had to cancel his participation in 2020 due to the strict Corona rules, but hopes to regain his chances of winning this year.

Digitalisation picks up speed
Modern media offers and formats have been on the minds of the organising association for quite some time. Due to the pandemic, this trend has accelerated rapidly since last year. In addition to numerous virtual meetings during the preparations, online ticket sales were realised for the first time this year and the website was renovated at the same time.

For the first time, there is a "Fan Info" as an online version of the traditional programme booklet. Even if the digital edition is no longer suitable for the personal scrapbook, it has clear advantages - especially in terms of topicality, internationality and rapid distribution.

During the entire planning process, we worked very closely with the municipalities and the responsible authorities. All permits have been obtained from these authorities and the international motorsport authority FIA has approved the rally.

Author: Björn Fröbe