Yeah, the year 2011 was passing by and we have a bit more than a month to go until 2012. I can look back to a very nice rally season with a lot of ups and downs but generally I have learned a lot and this is the moment where I want and have to thank some people.

I can’t really complain about this year’s season.. We had a lot of bad moments but there was also our overall victory in Hengelo where I am still really a bit smiling about as it is my first o/a win. And that with a Dutch driver, isn’t that just crazy? Haha.. I have never thought that before! Anyway, I learned really a lot this year and I am really looking forward to what’s coming next year. I definitely will focus on school in former case but end of April everything will be finished, so that I am more free for rallying. At least for the while I am “on holidays” to shorten time until my studies. I have no real clue yet what I will do next year but I am not afraid though because I had no real plans this year as well and it turned out amazing as well.

In fact, big thanks to Jan Nijhof who upgraded my 2011 season and made one of my dreams come true: To sit in a strong car and next to a great driver in Rally Köln-Ahrweiler and to do a fastest stage time out there. He not only gave me the chance to improve my co-driver skills by learning to read in Dutch, he also showed me his skills where I was really fascinated about already before. We won in Conrad Euregio ShortRally, which is my first overall victory in my career so far and I really enjoyed that day. So, thanks Jan that you made this possible.

Big thanks as well to our mechanics of Reconsales Autosport. You did a perfect job during every single rally and without you we would have never achieved these results, so these are not only our achievements, these are yours as well! Thanks to Ron, who actually builded our “Vicious Vicky”, the new M3 E30 in a record time and with a lot of love, haha. Thanks as well to Rob, Alex and Marten who worked perfectly during Rally Köln-Ahrweiler, and Thijs who was helping during CE ShortRally.

Also, thanks to my Dad Jürgen Beinke and to my uncle Axel Beinke, who always support me when I am rallying. I really appreciate that and it is amazing to have you around during a rally. It’s amazing to know when your family likes and believes in what you are doing. Thanks for that!

And finally, thanks to all our fans who supported us on the stages and to all media people who took great pictures and videos of us to keep this memorable season in mind!

Your Josy!

Yeah, I was taking part in this year’s Reckenberg Rally after all. It was a totally last-minute decision, at least the fact who my driver will be was. Late Friday, I got the call of Jan with bad news – so, I knew that I will do the event with Helger Groppel in his Fiat 131 Abarth. I quite looked forward to it as I like the car a lot, it looks just amazing. The rally took place in and around Rheda-Wiedenbrück with 5 (!!) different stages, only one ran twice, so 6 stages in total. I didn’t know at that time what was really waiting for me and how I should feel about it. I actually don’t like Rally200 as they are so short with only 35km of stages but I tried to enjoy it. Friday evening, I already did the administrative checks and had some chats with the people around. It’s just soo familiar and that’s what I actually like a lot about these little rallys. The Saturday came fast though, and we started quite early with the Scrutineering and Recce. When everything was done we had to wait. And that’s a thing I defo hate. Anyway, the first three stages until the Regrouping were finally waiting for us and we started as the 49th car on the road. I knew that I had to be calm and generally not ambitious in any way because we were there for fun. That’s normally not my preferred attitude but I tried my best though. The first three stages went quite well and it was a quite new kind of work to not having a look at any stage results. FUN was the keyword and we had a lot of it. No checking of tyre pressure, no cleaning of the windscreen, or whatever! Just sitting there, reading notes, enjoying the rally. That was easy haha.. ) Especially stage five went very well for us and after all we finished (!!) in 43rd position in general and 2nd in our class. That’s not a bad achievement for just having fun. I defo prefer to have some more ambitions anyway, that’s the way I am and I can’t just switch it off so easily.

We had a great night out after the prizegiving and although our Gromi didn’t win the event we celebrated the victory of Holger Knöbel, as he did a great job and deserves the win for sure. It was a hard fight between them until the end, so both of them deserved the win a lot. But only one team can win, and that was Holger Knöbel/Thomas Mönkemöller. Congrats to you and good luck for the ADAC Rallye Masters!

Now, I am very much looking forward to Rallye Köln-Ahrweiler in November. It won’t only be my season ending for this year but also a very big highlight in my career so far. It has always been a dream to do this rally in a great car with an amazing driver. It feels like I have to wait ages until November though, but there are some nice things in between to kill some time as I am getting over to the UK for a 5-day schooltrip in about 2 weeks. London it will be and I’m sure that will be a lot of fun.

Xx,

Josy

Thanks to rk-fotos.de

Doesn’t this car looks just amazing? It’s great to see that it impresses a lot of people. Like when you stop somewhere there are always 10 people admiring it like it’s the biggest attraction around. It’s an ex-works-car by the way!

After a few busy weeks with the preparation of the roadbook for this year’s Reckenberg Rally, I’m happy that it’s finally done. It was a lot of work but I’m happy with the result although it is not yet the way I wanted it to be like. Anyway, I can look forward to the rally now. Apparently, this will be the first year where I won’t be able to take part in the rally. It’s not like I don’t like that though but I rather prefer to compete in one of my home events than spectating it. Just today I got the final call that I won’t compete. My uncle won’t be able to do the rally due to work commitments, my dad won’t get his car ready in time and finally Jan won’t be able to do the rally because he needs his cars for a rally two weeks later.

Sooo, the plan at the moment is to help within the organisation and work as a time keeper on stage 3 and 6. That’s not too new for me, as I did that already last year in Stemwede. And, of course I’m am going to keep my fingers crossed for our teammates Walter Gromöller/Klaus Brökelmann who are going to take their 11th win in a row at this years rally. In case they will do it, the kiss for the car on the bonnet will be back on there again (the last one disappeared when Walter’s little neighbour washed the car properly haha). Of course, I’m going to keep you all up-todate with live stage updates on our facebook page.

For the rest, the plannings for Rallye Köln-Ahrweiler are coming closer. It’s not yet to be announced what car I’m going to be in, let yourself surprise! I’m going to tell some more information in about a month. It’s still 8 weeks to go untill the rally takes place – that are ages! Though, I’m sure it will be a great season ending for this year.

Have a nice week!

X, Josy

Almost 6 and a half weeks of holidays had fly by and I had to get back to school last weeks wednesday. I went to Rheda-Wiedenbrück already to prepare the first things for the Roadbook of this year Reckenberg Rally. It was a lot of work already, especially because I want to change and personalise the style of the roadbook. I need some more time for it still next week.

School keeps me already quite busy as well. Although the first full week starts tomorrow, we already have a lot of work to do. It’s our final year of school, and a short one! Probably that’s why.. Unbelievable it’s only 23 days of school until our school trip to London. I really can’t wait!

To come back to rallying, I have bad news concerning Reckenberg Rallye. Actually, I wanted to codrive for my uncle but he has to withdraw his entry due to a working agreement. But I may be competing anyway which is not to be announced yet. I will let you know about that when it is official.

Rallye Köln-Ahrweiler is in less than 9 weeks and I am really looking forward and – honestly – I can’t wait! Yet, it doesn’t feels real but I will get down on earth soon again when the rally comes closer. That – at least – was it like when I was waiting for my WRC debut.

So busy few weeks are waiting for me, especially with school. I’m sure all the rallys will be a good distraction.

I gonna keep you up-to-date soon again!

X Josy